Steven's Tale
by Teodyssey
Summary: A run-in with a corrupted Gem causes Steven to be pushed out of a warp stream and in the Underground. Fear and flowers causes the young gem lose the warp pad in the darkness. In a strange new world without the gems Steven must find some way to return home or die trying. A Spoiler Heavy Steven Universe/Undertale Crossover NaNoWriMo! 50K words and beyond.
1. Chapter 1 The Call

Steven's Tale

A/N: Hey there! If you're reading this then welcome aboard. I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to be writing a Steven Universe/Undertale crossover fanfic… for Nanowrimo! Which means at the end of each day I'll be updating this bad boy with as much progress as I can manage. Any day that I miss will be probably made up on the next day. By the way Author notes don't count into the grand tally.

As another note. This fic is SPOILER-TASTIC! Reading this will most definitely spoil the life out of Steven Universe and Undertale. I will be referencing events from all over Steven Universe and following Undertale's main story. You have officially been warned. The only bits of original stuff are the character interactions and some of the lore is going to be tweaked to reconcile the crossover.

50K words and a story to write. Let's start this bad boy off...

* * *

It had been an awesome mission! Steven and the Crystal gems saving the day and making the Earth safe! Another corrupted gem bubbled and sent back to the temple. The Gems were all chattering about some mishap that had occurred during said mission. Amethyst was ribbing Pearl about splitting the monster. She adamantly insisted that she only wished to divide and conquer. Garnet for her part listened in bemusement as she looked back towards Steven. A silly grin was stuck on the little boys face as he walked behind the gems to the warp pad. He had done his shield and bubble a grand total of ten times! Sure he was red in the face and shaking a bit but it was totally worth it.

"Steven," Garnet called as her shorter compatriots got up onto the warp pad, "Why don't we have some ice cream when we get back. We couldn't have gotten that gem without your help."

"Really!" Steven exclaimed. Garnet never said anything she didn't mean outright. Steven had been pleased but now he was over the moon! He couldn't wait to tell Connie!

"Yes, if you hadn't used your shield on that monster it'd never have poofed and we'd still be chasing!" Pearl noted. Steven's silly grin widened at the thought of being the one who saved the day.

"Ch'yeah, that thing wouldn't stop moving." Amethyst punctuated her statement with a firm thumbs up and winning smile. Steven's little heart near exploded right then and there.

"Okay!" He cried whilst bounding up to the warp pad. Today had been the best! he thought as the Gems signaled for him to start the warp. A deft wave of his hands and they were off in a blaze of light.

...until the speeding form of a gem monster crashed into the warp stream! It shrieked as it snatched Steven from the stream. Pearl's face stretched into a visage of maternal fear as Garnet moved to grab Steven. Amethyst had just formed her weapon when Steven and the gem monster careened out of the stream and into the void! The last thing Steven saw as he looked back at them were the gems desperately reaching for him, each face a mixture of horror, outrage and determination before they vanished behind a veil of flowing energy.

Steven watched as they plummeted through warp space. Streams were streaking their ways all around him and he hoped dearly that he'd land somewhere he knew. He looked down at his kidnapper in rage. Pearl had called it a Nurse Gem one that would've welcomed newly emerged gems into the world at a kindergarten and would brief them on their place in gem society. It was a blob with it's gemstone as an eye within it with a toothy mouth. A large protrusion at it's behind seemed to allow it to propel itself like a rocket.

"Where are you taking me?!" Steven called out. The monster took no notice of his words...

"Please let go!" Steven wailed, "Please! I know where I'm supposed to be! So could you please let me go?"

The monster murmured something to itself but seemingly obliged. Vertigo and disorientation greeted Steven as he began to fall. The monster rocketed off into warp space as he found himself starring at a stream headed right for him. He closed his eyes and braced himself as the current of the stream took him...

...into darkness. That was the first thing to greet him when he opened his eyes. He swallowed hard and thought back to the temple. I'm still on the pad. All I need to do is will myself home. Just gotta focus-

"Howdy!" Steven took off running at the sound of the voice behind him. The sound of his sandals floppy slaps on the ground echoed strangely as he ran. He wished that the gems were there. They'd know what to do. But they weren't there. They were back at the temple without a clue of where he was. If he was going to get out of this... he was going to have to do it himself.

He skidded to a halt and steeled himself. He called forth thoughts of his adoptive mommies and how they'd always protected him and helped him out. That feeling of security and warmth finally blossomed in his mind as he willed power into them. A crimson glow lit the chamber and a rose pink shield formed at his side. His brow knitted in a frown of determined defiance Steven studied the darkness sternly,

"Show yourself!" He demanded as he lowered himself into a battle stance like Pearl had taught him. Then he waited.

"Wow... You must be new to the underground!" called a voice from the dark, "You must be so confused, someone ought to help you out!"

The saccharine nature of the voice unnerved Steven. The way it came from all around him just made him shiver. He knew he could just pull out his bubble but his strength was waning. A bubble would wipe him out completely and he'd be slumped on the ground exhausted without any way to escape!

Just then his enemy came into view... or more precisely sprang from the ground. It was a... flower. A daisy. Steven stared quizzically at the common plant but kept his shield up. He'd faced enough chlorofiends to be taken in by such an innocuous appearance.

Well he was until the little flower sprouted a face and talked! "My names Flowey, Flowey the Flower!"

"Aww, Well aren't you just the cutest wittle flower ever!" He beamed at it, "What's a little guy like you doing in a dark place like this?"

"Greeting newcomers to the underground!" it chirped at him. "I couldn't help noticing that you're a human!"

"Hm? Oh yeah, But I'm also a gem, See" Steven lifted his shirt to display the glowing red gemstone where his navel would've been. The flower's face brightened both literally and emotionally at it.

"Wow, That's really something." "I know right!"

"but you know what's more awesome, Gaining Levels!" The flower remarked,

"Levels? like in a game?" Steven replied,

"Oh Sure, exactly like a game!" THe flower grinned up at him, "But to do that you need yourself some Experience Pellets!"

"Oh like XP in a real game!" Steven cried ecstatically, "Where can I get some of those? Do I gotta beat up some monsters or save some princesses?"

"Oh I'll give you some. Just a friendly way to welcome newbies into the underground." On cue five blazing white spheres manifested around the flower in a sort of halo. Steven stared starstruck at the mystical spheres as Flowey sent them at him. He spread his arms out to absorb them...

And was blown back to the ground with pain lancing through him. His concentration absolutely broken, the shield left him and his gem flickered off as the darkness took him and Flowey.

"Hahaha, You stupid rube." THe flower sneered from the dark, "The first rule of the underground is simple, KILL OR BE KILLED!"

Spheres like the ones before coalesced around Steven in a ring of blazing white light. The boy blanched when he saw this. He closed his eyes and desperately called up the same comforting memories as before. This time of Garnet protecting him and Connie from that snowstorm, Amethyst saving him from the plant monsters at his mother's spring, and Pearl defeating a berserk fusion away from him. He willed what little power he had left into those memories and feelings their brought. He prayed that would be enough,

"Did you think I would pass up the opurtunity to kill you because you were nice?! HAH! DIE!" Steven opened his eyes and his features sagged. There was no bubble. He hadn't had enough left in him! He was definitely going to die out here. To a flower!

"Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst, I'm sorry..." He closed his eyes and waited. Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he felt the bullets approach him. They hummed as they orbited him in a slowly constricting circle of doom. Tee sound only intensified as they became one solid ring of death rising in pitch.

And then the hum stopped. THe air was quiet. Steven ventured a peek as he opened his eyes. He saw a silvery white ball of flame barrel towards the flower. The loathsome plant yelped as it burrowed into the ground, the fireball crackled as it passed over it.

Oh no, what if it's something bigger! A dragon or maybe another gem monster! Oh man, I wish the gems were here!

"What a terrible trick! Attacking a sweet little boy like that!" The voice was lower pitched but Steven could tell it was a lady speaking. It reminded him of how the gems sounded, especially Garnet. From the dark with a small flame levitating near her came a large imposing figure... in a dress.

"Are you hurt, my child?" The matron made to approach him. Steven tensed but figured that if she wanted to she could nail him with that fireball whenever. Besides he couldn't actually move, he hurt too much for that.

"Ow..." Steven croaked from his prone position as the matron bent over his person.

"Oh good, you're body hasn't been damaged too..." She gasped, "You're... A gem!"

"Yup, I'm a gem, oof..." His effort at conversation awarded him a spike of pain as his chest struggled to draw breath.

"But you're... Oh nevermind. Let me take you to my home. It's not safe here." before he could protest the figure gently lifted him up into her arms. The alien yet familiar sensation of being cradled silenced him as the figure moved,

"My name is Toriel. I watch over the ruins for any who've fallen. I'm sorry I did not find you sooner."

"That's okay. At least you found me." Steven replied with a smile, "It's nice to meet you Toriel, My name's Steven."

"It's nice to meet you too." she replied warmly.

* * *

The duo passed through several rooms and passages after that. To Steven most of these places looked strangely similar to the Lunar Sea Spire, albeit without the deadly snails. Iconography similar to gem writing appeared on the walls and even the masonwork had something of gem culture in it. It was all very eerie to him. Thankfully Toriel ferried him through the more desolate regions of the ruins. Once they'd come to a long hallway, the motherly monster set him down.

"I think this is far enough." She remarked as Steven got his legs under him. She rose with a furrow in her brow, "We should be safer now that we're in 'Home.'"

"Home? You live here?" Steven spread his arms out around him, "This doesn't seem too inviting."

Toriel chuckled before shaking her head, "No no, the city we're in is called Home. My house is a bit farther in. How are you feeling?"

Steven touched his chest. The whole front of his shirt had been destroyed and the remaining bits of fabric hung like a unbuttoned shirt. His chest was still red and angry looking but all in all, Steven concluded he'd been subjected to worse. Thankfully his gem had been mostly spared aside from a single scuff mark which Steven blotted at with his spit. It didn't heal but it made him feel better.

"I'm alright." Steven replied as he looked up from himself. Toriel nodded in agreement as her face smoothed in relief,

"Good good, I was hoping to have you rest for a bit in the park while attend to some errands." She grinned warmly at him. Steven knew that grin all too well. It was the sort of clever smile the gems would have if they'd thought of something fun or nice to do with him. Not wanting to ruin the surprise young Steven opted to keep his thoughts off of his face,

"An underground park?" Steven remarked curiously. That was the sort of weird little quirk of some kind of charming science fiction or fantasy novel. Lord knows he'd read his fill of those with Connie when he'd been grounded from TV. Toriel chuckled to herself as she held out a hand to lead him. He took it,

"Yes, it suppose it's sort of weird to have a park underground. We call it the park down here but in all honesty it's simply a place where the forest above is visible through holes in the rock layer. There are some plants and such down here but it's nothing like the surface world." Toriel explained as the park itself came into view from beyond a chain link gate.

It was an odd sort of park. For one thing there were piles of leaves everywhere in varying stages of what Steven figured were decay. In places where there weren't leaves were small patches of dirt, lichens and exposed rock. The dirt had been collected into little flower beds with a few beds being filled with plants that had yet to bloom. The lichens were fuzzy and reminded Steven too much of dust bunnies which in turn reminded him of Pearl's predilection for cleanliness and tidiness. That is to say there weren't many dust bunnies to be found in his domicile.

Apart from the lichens and moss were a number of luminous mushrooms. Toriel was quick to explain that they were a common occurrence down in the underground and many areas were lit almost exclusively with them. She did note however that they would be needing to grind them up soon to be scattered over the compost. The Boss Monster did encourage the young gem to get a good look at them while they could because it'd be a while before he'd see them again. That last bit confused Steven but he figured it was a slip of the tongue or something. The blue light they did give off wasn't all that bright but it did help make the place slightly less dark. They didn't however help with the subtle ominous feeling he kept feeling.

There were a few monsters wandering the park. Some were tending to the plants with tool which Toriel explained were municipal workers employed by the city and crown to maintain civic beauty. Others were simple park goers. To Steven they looked strangely familiar and sinister.

Mind you most of them had the sort of appearance Steven was used to seeing on Gem monsters. Here they were however being amicable and sociable like he was used to with the Crystal Gems. Somewhere in him his heart ached for a small green monster he'd been forced to deem a lost cause… He cast that thought away quickly,

"I bet this must all look rather strange to you." Toriel noted as she blushed beneath her fur, "But this is the best Home can offer."

"I think it's pretty cool. It's like something out of a book." Toriel beamed at the comment.

"Well I'm glad that it suits you." She rummaged in a pouch that hung from her side, "Now I'm going to be giving you a cell phone so we can stay in contact."

"Uh…" Steven proceeded to pull out his own, "I already have a cell phone."

Toriel held up another. It was an older model that still flipped open and didn't have a touchscreen.

"Surface phones don't get very good signal down here. This one might be a bit old but it should still work." Steven reluctantly took it from her. The plastic felt strange and scuffed to him after he'd gotten so used to his own phone. He pocketed both phones. He did wonder why Toriel was giving the phone and why she was acting like she was.

"Now I'll be back in a few minutes. Then I'll take you home and we'll go from there. Is that okay?" Steven nodded but he could feel something was wrong with all this. He appreciated that she was helping him out but she was starting to act a bit too much like the Gems, like a mother. It felt nice but only Gems were allowed to be that way with him.

Before he could really voice any objection to her she'd vanished down a long passage way. He considered following but figured that if she'd just be coming back then there wasn't much point in doing so.

Steven resigned himself to exploring the park and talking to some of the monsters there.

* * *

"Ribbit Ribbit (Oh, a human)" cried an oddly large frog with two faces. Steven tried his best not to think of Gem mutants as he choose to look at the frog's real face, the top one. "Ribbit Ribbit (You're not here to beat us up are you?)"

"beat you up?" Steven was somewhat confused as to why the frog was coherent to him but he brushed it off as yet another gem quirk. When you live in a household with three aliens, a warping device, a quantum space capable door and hundreds of encapsulated dormant aliens you tend to get used to the weird being strangely normal. That and the frog clearly looked more scared of him which was rather telling given that it's lower face was having a little panic attack.

"Ribbit ribbit (Yes… the last time a human came through here he beat lots of monsters up! My brother was one of them that got the worst of it.)" Steven grimaced as he got down to face level with the frog. The lower face froze in alarm as the top face blinked impassively at him,

"I'm not going to hurt anybody." He replied, "My name's Steven, what's yours?"

"Ribbit Ribbit (My name is Froggit. It's very nice to meet you.)" The frog said and this time both of it's faces were hopeful in expression. Steven smiled warmly at this as his gem stone sparkled. The frog picked up on this with its lower face,

"Ribbit Ribbit (You're?! A gem?!)" This time both faces erupted into hysterical panic. The frog bounded over Steven, who ducked with a yelp, and ran off. This did not go unnoticed but by the time others had looked at Steven's gem had gone dark and all they saw was a human who'd scared off a frog. A few nasty looks came his way but most returned to their work or park going.

"Hey, what are you doing messing with Froggit!" Growled what looked like an eyeball with legs. Froggit, the large frog from before was cowering behind this monster. Steven was in a similar state but only from the memories of an eye that size. It looked to him like the Cluster Mutant Garnet and him had fought in the Kindergarten! Sure it was smaller but the terror of that moment crept into him once more.

"Stay back, I-I…" in a flash of rose colored light Steven called up his bubble. The spheres appearance served to halt the duo and alarm all those within the park. Municipal workers looked up from their work in a mix from surprise, interest and utter terror. The park goers were stunned until one of them let out a howling scream which set the whole park into an uproar.

Steven watched from the safety of his bubble as monsters ran around him. They were roaring, screeching and clawing at the bubble in their haste. THe unearthly ruckus only served to remind him further of the strange beings he'd encountered in the hospital with Connie and her mom. He wished she were here, she would've loved being on an adventure with him. And she'd have his mother's sword to help him out.

When the air was still again he let the bubble and his breath go. He shivered as he looked around him. There were a few monsters hiding from him in various bits of the park. There were leaves everywhere now as some monsters had crashed into the piles, scattering them. The flower beds had been pounded into compost and the light giving mushrooms had several caps torn if they stood at all.

He paled at the damage done around him. Sure he hadn't exactly been the one doing it but he'd frightened all those people! They'd done so much damage to the park! That wasn't right.

"Ring ring!" Steven Flinched at the sound of Toriel's phone going off. He uneasily answered it,

"Steven, are you alright?!" Her concerned voice came alongside a rush of wind and breath. "I heard that something's happened in the park! I'll be right there!"

"Toriel, I-I" Steven started, "I-"The call ended there however as silence answered him. He slapped the phone shut as he surveyed the scene around him. There was a small monster that looked like a cross between a ghost from pacman and a fairy. It was sobbing behind what looked like an overturned candy table with a small banner reading "Whimsalot's candy company! Be nice to my 'Sun."

Steven slowly approached the little monster and bent down. He knew he'd spooked it but he wanted to know why. Why did everything run screaming the moment they saw his bubble. Why did creatures here recognize him as a gem on sight?! And why was that important enough to make him freak out so hard!

"Hey there little guy," he tried. The whimsun looked up to see him. The moment it realized what it was looking at it started shaking so bad that Steven thought he'd given the poor thing a seizure. But given the lack of frothing at the mouth or dying Steven figured it was mostly okay… but he was sure that most creatures, gem or not, couldn't survive being that scared for long.

He backed off. His questions would have to wait because trying to get answers out of a creature about to go into cardiac arrest isn't such an effective strategy. It ends with something dying and you not getting your answer because your interrogatee had died on you.

It was at that moment that one of the plants in the undamaged flowerbeds uprooted itself. Steven stared in surprise as it yawned at him. It was a giant carrot or turnip, Steven wasn't particularly sure to be honest. The vegetable caught sight of him and hurried over by way of hopping,

"Hello there!" Steven started. The veggie blinked at him as he continued, "I was wondering if you could answer a few things for me since you live here and all."

The veggie cackled softly at Steven before exuding a strange glow not unlike Steven's gem. A line of blazing white carrots appeared before it. Steven's face paled at this as one of the carrots pointed at him before flying right at him! He dove to the side and the carrot whizzed by before dispersing into nothing.

He looked back up at the veggie to see more healthfood being launched at him. He hurriedly picked himself off the ground before running. The veggie frowned at him in what looked like confusion as it continued it's assault. Steven prayed that Toriel would hurry all the while wondering why a veggie was shooting magic death foods at him.

"STEVEN!" Came the blissful sound of the cavalry. A bolt of silvery white fire incinerated the remaining carrots as Toriel interjected herself between Steven and the veggie. When the veggie caught sight of her it stopped glowing. Like Steven's gem powers had done to the other monsters the veggie blanched before hopping away as it's tuberous body could carry it.

Toriel watched this with a hint of satisfaction in her. Steven breathed a very heavy sigh of relief and a vow to eat all of his veggies with a vengeance when he got home. Only when the veggie had disappeared did Toriel check on Steven. Her words had came out at a frantic pace with worry lacing them

"Are you hurt? I'm sorry I shouldn't have tried to leave you here. I knew I should've" She stopped herself as her thoughts apparently overwhelmed her. She shook herself with her ears flopping somewhat when she did that. "It's going to be alright now Steven. I'll take care not to do that again."

"Toriel, It's okay" he assured as he felt his heart rate slowing, "It's okay really!"

The boss monster studied him and slowly she calmed down. Steven could see her larger shoulders coming down from the cringe they'd been in before. Her whole face righted itself from the pained scrunch they'd been in before. It was a familiar sight to Steven as Pearl could and did get into fits every so often. The only real way to calm Pearl was to show her that he was alright.

Steven was glad that worked with Toriel, but then again she'd acted like a mother and he was used to dealing with three rather than one. This was easy compared to when he'd have to deal with the Gems after that incident with Sardonyx.

"Thank you Steven. I guess I lost my head pretty badly there." She joked as she started to take in her surroundings a bit more closely. The worry that had been there before came back in force but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been. A paw went to her mouth as the damage that had been wrecked on the part really sunk in. She'd turned her back on him for less than an hour!

"Goodness gracious, what happened here?" Steven's lips thinned and he frowned as he looked to the ground for answers. The scattered compost and brutalized plants held no response for him…

"Toriel, why did you look so surprised when you saw my gem?" Steven broached. The larger monster snapped up from the park before peering down at Steven.

"I um…" She looked around for an answer, "I read it in a book. We have lots here and some of them talk about the Gems that came to this world."

"But why did everyone in the park flip out when they saw my powers? Everyone was yelling and running away like I was some kind of monster! I-I-I-I didn't mean to scare anybody but that just happened!" Steven fumed suddenly at Toriel's attempt to withhold information from him. The Gem's had done something similar to preserve his own confidence and that had been alright because they'd been under so much stress. Toriel was trying to hide something to cover her own self and Steven wasn't having it.

Toriel took a step back. Steven hadn't really known it but his outburst had caused his gem to flare up. The glow was unnerving the larger monster. Toriel swallowed hard as she considered just how to deal with this,

"Steven, We know about Gems because a long time ago we were attacked by them." Steven stopped when he heard that but Toriel kept going, "It's been several thousand years since they did. At the time we had had strained relations with humans on the surface that didn't trust us. When war broke out against us we turned to the Gems for help."

A dark look came over Toriel's features, "But they simply set about helping the humans and we were pushed back."

"To escape all of that we constructed the underground and sealed ourselves in. The gems from what I understand later sealed us down here as well from their side. I know it's been a very long time since the war but we still teach that Gems are dangerous and that they waged war on us." Toriel paused there.

It was a lot to swallow for little Steven. He'd wanted answers but he hadn't been suspecting that their entire culture hated gems on a fundamental level! The idea that he was a symbol of death to these people filled him with dread. How was he going to make it home! He truly wished the Gems were here with him now. Garnet would take charge and have Pearl handle diplomacy, Amethyst would show them that they meant no harm by doing something cool and fun that'd get them to calm down.

But they weren't here. They were probably worried out of their stones looking for him.

"Steven, oh dear," Called Toriel, "I'm sorry you had to find out like that but we really must be going." She took him by the hand and began to walk. Steven followed, his head swimming from the ramifications of what Toriel had told him.

* * *

End of day 1

Word Count: 4750

Not bad for Day 1. It'll definitely give me enough time to write with a bit more consideration going forward. Hope you all stay tuned and hopefully leave something of a review. See you tomorrow!


	2. Chapter 2 Great Off-Screen War

A/N: And so another day of progress! This one isn't nearly as long as the first day. This should be the second of three chapters setting up the changed setting. Which is most appropriate as during this stage of Undertale's storyline it's also similarly set up for the rest of the game. It's also a pretty good place to flesh out. I've heard it said that the Ruins area is graphically simplistic on purpose to assist in drawing focus to the character interaction rather than distracting from it.

Around 45K more to go. Let's get right down to it!

* * *

The walk to Toriel's home was… interesting. It would've reminded Steven of the pyramid temple from how the floors would move and the halls would contort to bring them back to certain rooms. Key word: Would've. He was too busy thinking over what Toriel had shared with him.

It wasn't as if this was the first time an alien being had laid it all out for him. All three of the Crystal Gems and his dad had taken their turn in sharing something with him. Pearl had done her best with explaining various bits of gem history and their place in Earth's history. That hadn't really been all that bad until he had heard what his dad had said. That had been heavy.

Amethyst had brought it even further home by revealing her past and the kindergartens. Steven hadn't been ready to understand at the time but after putting it all together he was starting to really get how badly the Gems had harmed the planet. It made him feel… cold. Just like he felt now.

"Steven?" Toriel's voice gently broke the silence, "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"

He bit his lips and felt a pressure build on his brow as his face furrowed. How was he supposed to word something so big?! He didn't want to bother anybody with this. It was like with Amethyst and Greg that one New Years. There's too much stuff and it's heavy and hard to deal with.

"I know I might've made it sound very bad but it wasn't all bad." She added with a weak smile that Steven didn't see. She gripped his hand a bit harder as her eyes glassed over slightly,

"The Gems, they… They tried to exterminate us several years after we'd hidden ourselves. They found our home and started an invasion into this city." She stopped and fussed with a switch to open a grate placed further into the room.

"I was around then. It seemed like we were going to be destroyed for sure. The Gem forces had smashed their way through our lines and what little resistance we could offer wasn't doing much to halt them. Everyone had evacuated to the the barrier at the time. I was here in the ruins coordinating the remaining soldiers. I had thought that I would make it through to see another day."

Steven frowned at the story as Toriel continued but now with a lighter tone, "But then the fighting ended." Steven looked up at the sudden shift in tone,

"The gem soldiers suddenly stopped attacking. I remember a lot of the soldiers fleeing from broken layers of our front lines reported that the Gems had been ordered to stop. I hadn't really believed them so I sent a few soldiers to confirm. To my amazement they returned with the same but with details that a rogue general in the Gem's command structure had ordered her men to pull back, sparring us."

Steven glared at the story in his head incredulously. He thought for a moment that it might've been his mother. Sure his mom had been very kind and very loving to all things but there was no way she'd been here! If she'd been there Toriel would've mentioned something about the other Gems. He shook himself but he couldn't help but think it pretty neat if his mom had been part of that. He chose to ask whom that general had been,

"So, did you ever find out who that general was?" Toriel let out a huff as she thought about it,

"To be honest, we didn't really know any of the gem's generals or who led their armies. Most of them tended to stay away from the fighting. I do remember one general but only because she was right in the thick of the fighting. She was this large stocky gem with a shield and sword. She terrified all those around her from the way she would almost dance their attacks and deal her own in turn. I saw her once and, my goodness, I got my group out of there as quick I could."

Steven didn't know to be happy or guilty. It felt nice to meet someone who'd seen his mother in action but to know that his mother had participated in some extermination war… that was less than awesome. Then again, Steven considered, if his mother had been here she really might've been the one that ordered the cease fire.

"Y'know my mother was a Gem that sounds a lot like that." Steven replied. Toriel's face flashed a series of conflicting emotions but settled eventually on looking bemused.

"Mother? Steven, I was under the impression that gems didn't reproduce and certainly not into humans." She commented. Steven chuckled. Welcome to my life he thought,

"Yeah, most people who know Gem stuff super well say exactly that. Dad says that I'm his little miracle. My mom gave up being her to be me, but it's okay because that's exactly what she wanted for me." Toriel started amused, then warmly parental then disturbed and lastly ended with confused with that last statement.

"Oh." She replied after a time. She blinked and mouthed to herself before she shook herself of it. "Well that's very strange."

Steven simply smiled at her. "I know it sounds a bit weird and Dad hasn't really explains how it happened. He says he'll tell me when I'm older." Steven noted the arch up ahead where the path branched. It was the same as most of Home's Architecture but there was a stone plaque of sorts carved into the arch's apex. On the plaque was carved what Steven thought of as a name in a fancy font:

"Dreemurr"

Under the name was a strange symbol that Steven recognized. He looked back at Toriel to see that it was the same as the one she wore on her dress. A winged sphere with three triangles beneath it in a sort of rhombus shape. He figured that it was a family crest, like the one on his shield and mother's sword. He tucked that bit of information for later.

"Good, we've finally arrived." Toriel exclaimed, "Steven, I do hope you'll like living here because we're home!"

Steven's face dropped at those words. He stared up at her in horror. Home wasn't some house in an underground city populated with monsters. Home was being surrounded by the Crystal Gems in their little place by the sea in Beach City. Home was where he and his dad would get together and barbeque. Home was where Connie and him met up before wandering around Beach city for the day. This wasn't Home.

But maybe she meant that in the short term like until he found his way back home. Maybe she meant in some other way that didn't imply him staying here forever.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Steven voiced as his mouth went dry all of a sudden. His tongue felt leaden and heavy and words seemed hard to form as he tried to process the situation.

"Just what I said. Oh I promise to take good care of you. It won't be like the surface but I'll make sure you'll be happy here!" She tried to sound cheerful but there was something behind that veneer. A sense of need for something. All this did was remind him of Pearl and Connie when they wanted to protect him so badly during their sword training. That had been scary!

"No, no, no no no. I don't belong here. I'm supposed to be back with the gems and my dad and and-" He explained in a frightened voice. Toriel clenched her jaw and Steven could see that she wasn't exactly looking at him. Pearl did the same whenever she confused him and his mother. Toriel almost looked like she was seeing a loved one like her son? Steven hoped not. The implications didn't hit him outright but experience led him through his memories. All of them involved loss.

"As-steven, I, I just want to keep you safe and trying to escape the underground isn't going to work." Toriel answered flustered and looking desperate for him to not push the issue. Steven flinched at that. Thinking quickly he thought of something to ameliorate her. A plan!

"Toriel, I just need to find that warp pad from when you found me back there. I can warp out of here and be on my way home." Steven answered confidently. It was such a simple idea and he knew he could do it! All he really needed was his legs and his shield. Piece of cake! "When I rest up and get a flashlight I should be okay."

"Oh." Toriel answered in subdued relief, "I had thought-" she fixed her expression back to a happy one, "well that's very good. I'll help you search tomorrow if that's alright."

"Yeah! I can even warp you out of here and maybe I can show you around Beach City!" He suggested. Toriel brightened considerably at the idea,

"Really? Oh, that does sound like a lovely idea." Steven breathed a satiated sigh as he watched her mood improve. It again reminded him of Pearl when she'd latch onto one of his ideas and calm down after a small panic attack. He started to wonder why, most people didn't make him feel like that.

"So show me around your place!"

* * *

Toriel happily obliged as she led him across the grounds and up to the house. The grounds looked very much like the park, except that unlike the public works operation going on there the grounds had a very finished and complete look to them. None of the rock layer peeked through the plants and packed compost. There'd had been a lot of landscaping done and it showed from the tastefully arranged beds of golden flowers and the way even the transient rays of sunshine from the holes in the rock layer had been taken into account. A small tree, bare of it's leaves, stood in the center of the grounds coloring the ground red with it's fallen leaves.

The house itself looked like something from a storybook. A stately manor embedded into the walls of the cave. Made of some light colored material that contrasted sharply with the dark colored stone of the city it shone even in the dim light of the cavern that held it. Oddly the manor retained its roof despite being underground and thus not needing one.

Inside the house Steven was pleasantly surprised to find the floors were made of wood! It was light varnished and complemented the off-white walls and the similarly caramel of the interiors finishings. Toriel was delighted to have him finally inside as she showed him his room,

The inside was pleasant. It definitely gave off the feel of a child's room. A cheerfully colored toybox sat at the foot of a bed next to a shelf absolutely brimming with storybooks and art supplies and other bits and bobs. An entire closet full of clothes stood off to the corner. Toriel made a comment that she could tailor anything to his size if he saw something he liked.

"Did you plan all of this?" Steven asked as they left the room. Toriel made a guilty face,

"Well, children are known to fall into the underground on occasion. If I encounter one I host them here for as long as they desire." Steven nodded. He was proof that people did find their way down here. He'd seen the holes that opened up to the world beyond. Actually he wondered why there were holes in the first place! These people sealed their home up pretty tight to escape the Gems. Why the holes?!

"Toriel, Why are there holes in the underground's roof?" He asked innocently. Toriel considered the question and after some thought answered,

"The Gems had weapons that could fire large beams of energy, they started using them closer to the end of the extermination efforts." Steven nodded sagely at the response. He felt a bit embarrassed to be honest. He was in possession of four such weapons. It seemed to him obvious that the Gems would've used them against these people. The gems were out of exterminate these people after all. They wouldn't have shelved their literal big guns for no reason!

"Anyways, are you hungry?" Toriel inquired. Steven opened his mouth to say no but a mutinous growl from his stomach betrayed him,

"I should've known. A growing boy needs to eat." She joked with him, "Now, do you prefer butterscotch or Cinnamon?"

The choice was obvious, "Butterscotch please!"

* * *

End of Day 2

Word Count 6867 words total; 2117 words for today. I'm maintaining my lead but I had hoped to put in a bit more to accumulate a sort of buffer. We'll be heading a bit off the rails tomorrow though so expect the next chapter to be a bit more interesting.

Cinnamon lovers, put down the pitchforks. I've only really heard people choosing Butterscotch! Steven's a junk food lover, he's obviously going to love butterscotch and it's sweetness!

Yes, I changed the world a bit by including brief gaps to the surface in the underground. It's something I picked up from another Undertale Fic that did the same. I also chose to use some terminology like Boss Monster. Source here: s/11577353/1/Onlooker


	3. Chapter 3 Good Morning Chrono

A/N: I'm terribly late on delivering this. I meant for there to be more but life just got in the way of getting stuff done. Then again, would you have rather I wrote this pissed off at life or in a more agreeable mood? Please don't answer that.

So remember how I promised that a lot of the set up is going to done in this chapter? It's kinda correct. I intend to deliver one more chapter before the day is up. This chapter makes for yesterday's and today's quotas of 1667. The next is going to be done tonight and get this story A-MOVING!

Onwards to the goal! Tally-ho!

* * *

After the meal and a bit of sewing Toriel sent Steven off to bed. The young crystal gem was dead tired… So many shields and bubbles in one day and so many super stressful moments. He couldn't wait to meet morpheus' demands in full. Toriel had a pair of pajamas tailored up in a jiffy and promised a brand new shirt that fit him in the morning.

The evening's rest at Toriel's manor proved to be difficult for young Steven. It wasn't that room wasn't perfect, certainly not. It was more of that ominous feeling Steven had been feeling since he'd arrived in Home. It gnawed at him from the back of his mind. An unshakable sensation that reminded him severely of the feeling of a Gem De-stabilizer but less acute and definitely more chronic.

He supposed it was simply that he was feeling anxious without the Gems. He'd been living with them years now. They'd been there constantly throughout his life. To not have them but having this goat-bear-aberration instead that constantly reminded him of them but didn't constantly was another nuisance for his head to deal with. It reminded him of those nights when he couldn't exactly find that comfortable position.

Like tonight actually. He'd checked his phone and was uncomfortably reminded that it was, indeed, one in the morning. An impassive frown hung on his face as he flopped around on the bed. The frown soon blossomed into a tired scowl as he felt something about this position urging him to move… again. He sat up finally, abandoning sleep for now.

"PING!" his phone politely interjected as he stared into the dark of the room. He squinted at his phone which had decided a lightshow was necessary whenever he got himself a message. Half blindly thumbing his way through the lock screen and so on he found a message, from Connie.

"Steven, Are you okay?! I tried to call your place earlier but the gems said you'd gone missing! If you're getting this please txt back!" Steven read it twice to ascertain himself that it was true. The words hadn't changed but the implication was the same.

They, the gems and his friends, were probably flipping out. He didn't want to think of Pearl losing her head. He'd had enough of that earlier today. He suspected that Amethyst would be a bit more level headed but still agitated that they couldn't find him. Garnet…

He gasped. Garnet! That was it! Garnet could probably see him. Steven grinned at that magnificent stroke of genius. Garnet had future vision and there were only so many warp pads on Earth. She'd foretell the correct destination and rescue him. He'd be home tomorrow for sure! Then he could work on that plan he'd earlier about the gems being a peace envoy to these people.

With this in mind he comfortably laid back down and attempted sleep again…

* * *

When he opened his eyes it was not Toriel or morning that greeted him. It was Rose. Steven stared at her in a daze. She held him in her arms as he lay on her lap. She was warm and motherly. He could hear her singing the same song Garnet had sung on that spaceship.

"O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!" Her voice sounded pretty to him. It followed alongside Pearls giggles as she danced.

"This world is full of so many possibilities." She said as she sang "O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!"

"Each living thing has an entirely unique experience;" her speaking tone began to shift lower and became slower, "O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!"

"the sights they see," And then pink tears came from her as she continued "I am made,"

"the sounds they hear," Steven felt cold and her tears were starting to pool around him "O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!"

"the lives they live," Steven looked up and Rose had become a statue like at her fountain "O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!"

"are so complicated, and so simple" And then the water rose and her drifted away from her. The sound now garbled in the water… "O-o-o-o-o-of LoOo-o-o-o-o-ove~!"

And then the waters turned turquoise and turbulent where they'd been pink and still. The rushing of water hit him with the force of the ocean in an storm. Tumbling this way and that Steven struggled against it. He suddenly felt tight in his chest. He fought now with the seas around and his lungs.

Until he was flung bodily through space and onto wet ground.

"Aw were you in the middle of sumtin'?" Steven choked as he came to himself, "I'm soo sorry to have taken you from sumtin' sooo special."

An abhorrent shifting visage met him as he righted himself. Two humongous eyes glared at him steadily as two others bulged and pulsated alongside other features like someone trying to force several layers of heavy quilts off of them… to no avail. The mouth was the only other stable part of the face looking down at him and in a way Steven would've been more comfortable if it moved. THe inside of it was decidedly not human. There were two tongues! one on the roof of the ceiling and the other on the floor of the mouth. The cavernous mouth's teeth were sharp and jagged in an inorganic way that reminded him of the bleached coral rather than teeth. Folds of flesh and tissues twisted and rested on each other uneasily and stretched to breaking. Some dark slime took the place of saliva and colored everything the color the of sky after sunset and before dawn.

"La-lapis?" Steven hoped. Prayed deeply that his friend still remained inside there. As he saw the face warp he wondered to himself, was that her or jasper? or both…

"Com'on kid, say it with me." The face drew close, pressing its sharp gemstone to him and forcing him to the ground, "MAL-LA-KITE!

"Muh-Mal-Lap-La-Kuh-kite!" "Good." The face twitched into a macabre parody of a smile. Somehow the tongues slithered out and attempted to hold onto Steven! They wound themselves together into a cord of beating throbbing muscle and flesh that somehow sprouted TEETH!

"Com'on Steven, Why don'tcha go for a swim." Steven went white as the toothed tongue-appendage played with his leg. Slime fell like rain on him and he felt it soak into him like acid into a sponge.

"Steven?! STEVEN! Please! Wake up!" A jolting motion, sharp inhale, A spinning room forward and back. Nausea, Too warm sheets, Strange ghostly sensations, the taste of bile in his mouth. He was shaking as the sheets fell off of him. A blink and he felt himself shudder fiercely until his eyes opened once again. His body left like he was going to pop or shatter from how tense he was. He curled inwards on himself as he felt his knees on his chin.

"Steven…" The voice bounced off the walls like a ricocheting bullet and almost just as loud. The silent echoes the voice left in it's wake played hell with him as the name came back to him. He blinked and the world went to madness until the light restored itself… painfully.

"Steven…" He hadn't felt it when the hands had come around him. He hadn't known the moment he'd stopped shaking. He couldn't recall him crying or when he'd stopped. He knew that he'd been held and something told him one of the gems had been there. The memory kept jumping like an old CD player on a bumpy road, showing him Pearl, Amethyst or Garnet at different times. He didn't care. He was with someone and that someone would keep the monster away. The monster named… (V) !1! !(1)~(17(!#

* * *

Morning came softly and gently to them. It wasn't the same as the oceanside melody of Beach City but the steady sound air moving, through the grounds and them. Steven regained full consciousness with his head in Toriel's lap as she dozed in a heap over him. His mind was empty and something told him that was bliss in of itself.

Toriel stirred when he woke. She immediately brought a hand to his shoulder. Steven accepted it thoughtlessly. His head too addled to think it strange or alien.

"Steven?" "Tori-el." Steven added sleepily, "No please Tori is just fine." she replied amicably, "All my friends call me that."

"What happened last night?" Steven asked as he sat himself upright. Toriel's face darkened,

"I… You were yelling in your sleep." Steven was stunned. His lips parted to reply but nothing came to him. His head seemed determined to undermine any attempt at going over the previous night. The idea that something bad happened to him last night filled him with dread. He pushed that again as he thought of what he'd been considering the night before.

"Oh, Okay." he replied at last, "Y'know I was thinking. I got in here through a warp pad yesterday. The gems know where most of them go so maybe they might've found their way down here!"

Toriel looked positively alarmed but reigned it in, "Well, that's good." She replied a bit shakily but kept the apprehension clear off of her face which broadcasted nothing but cheer. Steven chose to make no mention of her moment of fear, it was an understandable reaction to hearing an hostile alien race of exterminators were back in town.

"Yeah, I was thinking maybe we could search for the warp pad today and maybe surprise them by meeting up with them!" Toriel nodded at the idea,

"That sounds nice, We could even have a little picnic about it!" "CAVE-PICNIC!"

That was all it took for Toriel and Steven to jointly begin the day. First order of business was breakfast. The kitchen was unusually small. You would've thought that a home catered to Toriel would've included a larger kitchen but apparently a diminutive closet of a kitchen was all that was needed. The two had made a joint agreement. Toriel would bake and make sandwiches for their picnic and Steven would handle breakfast. Because they both would get in each other's way in the teeny little kitchen they'd agreed to let Steven go first, also because Steven insisted and it was breakfast for crying out loud.

Steven found most things where he needed them to be. The counter was a bit higher than he would've liked but he would be able to work with it nevertheless. Toriel, like any good maternal figure, had a veritable arsenal of culinary devices. Utensils of all shapes, sizes and functions were everywhere from drawers to hanging on the walls. Steven took to trying to find a gap in her taste workshop after a while.

The refrigerator was… surprisingly empty. He raised a brow at the MTT brand chocolate sitting on it's lonesome on top of a lower shelf where there was a carton of milk, a thing of eggs and some packaged bread. The rest of the food looked somewhat old, not expired but simply old. He shrugged, maybe it was late in the week and Toriel was about to do her grocery run. The gems' tended to do so with his Dad every week close to Sunday.

The freezer was by far better stocked than the refrigerator. Frozen veggies and the like lay stuffed off in the corner. There were a few frozen meals sitting ready to be had closer to the front of the freezer. A few bits of frozen meat sat in the far back with frost covering them. There was one thing that immediately stood out to him,

"Tori… why are there snails in the freezer?" Steven looked very green at the sight of the packaged snails. Toriel chuckled at him,

"It's going to sound a bit strange but they're my favorite." Steven tried his best to hide his disgust behind a very thick layer of smile. All he accomplished with his facade was look mildly creepy and ill at ease. Toriel howled at the sight of his reaction. "Hahaha, s'now reason to look like that!"

"Oh man Tori…" Steven cheerfully grimaced at the pun, "Guess you hit the Snail on the head!"

"PFT!" Coffee flew in a graceful arc onto the far wall of the living room as Toriel spitaked at the sudden joke, "Steven! Hahaha! Where'd you-hehehe come up with that one?!"

"I got it from a joke book! I read a lot when the Gems grounded me from TV. You wouldn't believe the goofy stuff they got in there!" Steven grabbed what he hoped were eggs and started preparations for breakfast. A prideful overcome Toriel as the eggs sizzled on the pan.

"So would you say that you've been Egg-ucated by those books?" Steven's mouth oh'd in comprehension and astonishment before curling into his broad full bodied smiles. He couldn't see Toriel from the stove top but could tell from her tone that she was grinning alongside him.

"Oh let me shell you another!" Toriel let out another gout of giggles as Steven focused on the eggs. They were going to be sunny side-ups as long as Toriel didn't make him laugh too hard.

"Steven, please you're really cracking me up!" Steven snorted as he broke the yolks. Obviously toriel wasn't going to let up on these jokes.

"You got me Scrambling for more material over here!" There the sound of a book hitting the floor before Toriel let loose a flood of chortles. Steven shook his head,

"That was a pretty bad egg as puns go, Steven." Toriel called as she swiped the book back off the floor. For Steven's part he was just about golden brown on underside of the eggs,

"Oh no, I guess I'm stepping on Egg-shells now!" Toriel guffawed once.

"Nothing beats that," Came her reply which came out in pieces from how much she was laughing. Steven wisely decided to stop there lest he put them both in hot water by putting her out of commission. You could said he didn't want to Hard-boil the situation! Or then they'd be deviled.

"Hey you want any sausage with these?" he asked from the stove. Toriel chuckled and Steven braced himself for the next pun.

"Def-Weiner-tly Steven!" Steven bit his lip as he held the laugh back in. If he started there'd be no end. But then again he already had a pun in mind.

"Dog-gone it Tori! That's pretty good!" Breakfast was served with a side of laughs.

* * *

After a delightful and thankfully pun-free meal It was Toriel's turn at the stove. They'd mutually agreed to put the puns away… for now. Steven wouldn't have been capable of engaging in punnery regardless.

"Tori, are you-" Toriel looked up from her oven to see steven at the doorway of the kitchen. "You're baking with MAGIC?!"

"Oh, yes." Looking down at her hands which still held some arcane glow she blushed. A quick wave of and the glow ceased.

"That's so COOL!" She beamed at him. "What else can you do! I wanna see all the spells you can do!"

"Oh well a lot of those aren't the sort of things you'd do in the kitchen." she admitted. Steven nodded. A lot of the Gem's powers were cool but stuff like Garnet's supersized gauntlets, Amethysts whip moves and Pearls energy beam really weren't stuff you'd do to demonstrate super cool powers. But there was something he could show off immediately.

"Hey I can do magic too!" He proclaimed. Toriel's brow went up in challenge as she leaned against the wall next to the stove. Steven screwed his face up in focus. He was going to do this perfectly. He did have an audience after all! Again he called forth those reassuring memories of the gems and their protective impact in his life. He added a bit of his Dad and Connie and all of Beach City for good measure. Feeling safe and wanting to ensure that he sent energy down into his gem and his arm.

"aaaand…" he held the energy there before letting loose. The sensation of holding in that energy buzzed in his teeth and stone. He let it go and with a flash of pink light he felt the familiar ghostly weight of his mother's shield on his arm, "TADA!"

With a big smile Steven held the shield up proudly. The spiral of rose thorns and Rose Quartz emblem at the center of the shield shone in the artificial white light from the ceiling fixtures. Steven expected her to clap at him playfully. She was a goat creature that candidly tossed around after all! how could making a shield out of nothing be all that surprising.

Apparently pulling a shield out of the air was more amazing than he'd been wagering. Toriel's face was long with shock and excitement and an emotion that Steven hadn't been planning: recognition.

"Your mother was the pink menace?!" Toriel exclaimed when she finally spoke. Excited might have been too mild of a term to put to Toriel's reaction. The large goat matron was ecstatic. Steven was somewhat intimidated by all this, That's a lot of goat mom being happy at him.

"I guess?" Steven shrugged,

"Oh my goodness. I haven't seen something from that long ago in AGES!" She reached over and started checking the shield out. She frowned at it a few times but the smile never left her, only dimmed and flickered like a flame in a breezy room. And then she tapped the shield,

and her arm was flung back by a surge of force. Steven's eyes went wide in shock as did Toriel as the both of them stood there reeling from it. The both of them looked at the shield in trepidation. Toriel put both hands in front of her and Steven nodded. They were not going to do that again. Thankfully the smell of pie was filling the air,

"So wanna show me how your magic flame thingie works?" Toriel eagerly set to the task of explaining magic theory to him. The tension still there but buried behind several paragraphs on things that didn't have to do with kinetic blasts.

"So all you do is think about what you want, believe in it and then will it?" Steven questioned back at her. Toriel nodded, looking very pleased with herself.

"Exactly! Oh Steven you're such a good student." She purred, "I always wanted to be a teacher, I know I'd be a good at it too."

Steven shrugged at her statement, "What's stopping you? I bet there's a school just waiting to have you! And you're super good with kids!"

"Thank you Steven, but it's not that." She replied as she tried to keep the blush off of her features. Composing herself she formulated a reply, "It's just… We already have enough teachers and I have a sort of reputation with children that might not be altogether suitable."

Steven frowned in disappointment as well as thought. To him Toriel was the best teacher he'd had! She'd totally explained things in a way he understood and didn't go too fast or use big words that confused him or ones that he didn't know. He loved Pearl but she could be a bit… esoteric in her speech and sometimes her analogies just complicated things. Also she tended to go off topic if it was related to his mother in some ways. Toriel had done none of that and in his book that was great!

Although, he mused, He hadn't gone to school so how good of a judge of teacherly-ness he was was up for debate.

But that last part about a reputation with children. That struck a note with him. How was she bad with children? She was fine with him. He wondered worriedly if something had happened in the past to her. 'Tori' to him was a sweet old lady that reminded him of a more lively Granny Nanefua (Gunga) nyx the penchant for appropriately used modern slang. The thought of something unfortunate happening to her filled him with dread.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to Tori." Steven offered gently. The Past. There's too much it and it's heavy and hard to deal with. Toriel half smiled at him,

"Thanks Steven but it's nothing a old lady like me should burden with one so young." An amenable silence fell over them. Steven left it at that and chose to dismiss his shield. Summoning it took power from but not nearly as much as withstanding an attack. That blast of force had drawn some of that out of him but compared to stuff like falling rubble, a gem mutant and a spaceships main cannon it wasn't anything big.

"Hey, why don't you read or something while I make the sandwiches?" "okay!"

* * *

Oh-my-Let me pun you again! Aren't my Jokes just Egg-cellent? Look on the Sunny Side, I'll run eventually. But why would you ever want to see the end of these Grade A yolks?! Up and Ovum your heads now! Don't you just love how I'm laying on you!

Incoorporating two disparate universes together is tough work. At least to a competent punslinger this is an enjoyable part. Creating that relate to Steven and that are true to Undertale is super cool and wicked tricky at times.

As a big note, I'll be delivering more history bits throughout the fic but they're of the smaller variety. Info dumping isn't my style but it's really hard not to when I'm in a Nanowrimo setting with lots and lots to type and style isn't a huge concern...

Word Count 10323 total (3456 today)


	4. Chapter 4 Comfort Food

A/N: I did say it was coming. I seriously wanted this chapter to go into the last one but... again reasons. Gotta develop things in sequence and make it a gentle progression rather than a jarring one. This is still a story despite being a horrifying word count driven hellspawn of literature. At least all of this allows me to pace the story a bit better by breaking up content into smaller more digestible pieces.

Although to be honest I think I'm being far too gentle. I'm doing this halfway for the words and for the fleshing of the universe and it's characters.

Without further ado, It's show time!

* * *

Steven gleefully charged forward ahead as Toriel followed with the picnic basket in arm. Rays of morning light were filtering through the surface forest and the cracks in the earth. They were nearing the area where Steven had been attacked by Flowey the previous day. Toriel had been very supportive of them investigating the area. In her words:

"If there's a way to the surface down here, I must find it as a previous commander of the Home United Military Assault Neutralizers. Also, you have a shield wielded by a previous warrior of the gem forces. That's plenty of protection right there."

The historical frontlines of the Extermination war was telling as beyond a particular point there weren't any more gaps in the rock layers above. Darkness prevailed and to all, including Steven and Toriel, Evil dwelt in those sun forsaken spaces. The warmth of the civilized underground left them and they only had Toriel's sorcerous flames for comfort.

"Suddenly a cave-picnic doesn't sound nearly as awesome." Toriel nodded in embarrassment. Steven's excitement had made it sound so good that even Toriel had latched onto it. Given that it'd been right after a nightmarish night it had probably been heavenly to hear. The two of them carried on the regardless, they had a pad to find.

Blue light from far off mushrooms cast the underground landscape into one of large flowing dark shapes that rose and fell off in the distance. It gave the impression of a time before dawn. The color kept making Steven second think if he was truly underground but the occasional drop of water from the ceiling or a stalactite would remind him that he was indeed beneath the earth.

"So we're looking for a circular structure made of diamond?" Toriel asked as she cast her flames farther away from her.

"Yup, Shouldn't be too far. I didn't run for that long yesterday." Steven assured. He said it more for himself. It was darker than he remembered and they could wander right by it and never get a glimpse of it. There was a very good chance they might never find it. The idea filled him with dread.

"Hey Tori," Steven started as he thought about the problem of not being able to see very far, "How many flames and how far can you spread them out?"

Toriel blinked and considered her flame, "I think I could have at least a hundred or so a short distance between them. I don't know how far I could spread them out away from myself."

"Let's give it a try. I don't want to walk past it in this dark." She agreed with her hands. The same silvery white glow lit her hands as she gestured in the air. Steven noted that she hadn't really told him that movements and so on weren't totally necessary to making magic happen. He chalked it right up there with how the Gem's summoned their weapons, loads of their moments weren't specifically necessary according to even then. Heck he just had to think about it and the shield came to him.

The glow that had been around her hands flared. From above her flames began to appear. It looked to him like a great invisible chandelier was being lit. The flames expanded outwards but held their shape as a loose ring around her. It was very mystifying to watch for Steven who missed Toriel motioning for him to gather close to her. When he did he hurried right over, careful not to brush up against her.

moving her hands down with her palms to the ground she willed the flames towards the floor of the cavern. The area of a sports field was cast in stark white light from the equally silvery white flames. Steven was smiling ear to ear at the brilliance of his plan. There was literally no way they could miss it with light like this.

"Oh my goodness." Toriel remarked as she gazed at her handiwork. She kept looking it over and over and her mouth kept mouthing the same word, "wow."

"It's beautiful Tori!" A pleased disbelieving smile lit up her face as she nodded her agreement.

"I can't believe just how big this all looks. Goodness, I haven't done something like this since forever!"

"You should do it more often, I bet loads of people would love to see this. Toriel, Mistress of lights, Sorceress of Flames, Queen of the underground!"

"Oh you." She teased, "you really know how to butter up an old lady." She motioned for them to continue. Steven bowed and bid her to do so first. She shook her head at him as they started off once again.

The white light did more than simply illuminate the area around them. There was something about having lots and lots of magical fire that made the air feel different. Also it made for some ambient noise a side from their footsteps and their breathing. The subtle crackle of the fires added the feel of a warm parlor somewhere. The smell of pie and sandwiches in the basket only served to make the mental idea more solid in both of their heads.

"We'll have the picnic once we've found it and once we get back to Home's borders." Steven made a face but begrudgingly agreed. Toriel wasn't some infinite magic battery. The flames were a huge draw on her power and he knew what it felt like to run low in unfamiliar territory. Sure he could save her with his shield but he'd rather that not happen.

"OH I SEE IT!" Steven looked up from his thoughts. Toriel was pointing off to their right. Sequestered in a little ring of stalagmites was the pad.

In pieces. Steven and Toriel stared at the broken piece of gem technology in bewilderment. Steven felt his heart sink at the sight of the ruined pad. It seemed completely unacceptable to him. It'd been running yesterday! He'd been in the very same spot less than a day ago. Yet despite his heart's longing for home the pad's condition refused to change. It still lay there shattered beyond repair with Beach City and the Gems similar beyond reach.

"I'm sorry Steven." Steven huffed out a breath of disappointment. She opened her mouth to say more but nothing came to her. She joined her lips as an ocean of emotions welled up behind them bereft of words to give them escape. All she could do was place a hand on Steven.

"Thanks Tori," He forced himself not to sniffle. He knew Toriel would understand. She'd probably hold him close and pat him on the back but he didn't want that. Now wasn't the time to sulk about not having a convenient warp pad home. He still had options in front of him. He had Toriel there with him and she looked ready to do what it took to get him home. But how, that

For a fleeting moment Steven seriously considered on staying with Toriel. That moment passed and he felt horrid. Home was still with the Gems, his dad, Connie and the people of Beach City. He was still a Crystal Gem and there was an Earth needing his help. He couldn't be saving the day from the unground. He'd find a way home even if nobody, not even he thought he couldn't! He had to believe that and Gems would find a way and that he would also do the same.

"...and then we'll go out for pizzas." He smiled as the words of his old song came back to him. He looked back up at Toriel who was taken aback at how he'd returned to cheer and with such fire in his eyes.

"Toriel, could you tell me about this barrier? I think I might need to go there." Toriel's features sagged and dread filled her eyes as the question hit her. She grit her teeth and then replied in the small voice,

"Let's talk it over Lunch, alright?"

* * *

The sun had left the area but it was still more pleasantly lit than the sunless expanse of the old war frontlines. The area was very much like the park in the respect that it too hosted some plant life which lent itself a bit to their idea of a picnic. There were a few spiders lurking about which creeped Steven out. Toriel had made mention that they were harmless and could be quite friendly. Steven had been incredibly skeptical of that but decided not to argue.

She was a goat-bear-monster that lived in an underground world in her own manor that ate slugs after all. If she said spiders were friendly here, it was probably so… despite him not wanting to believe it.

Everything was set out on the blanket Toriel'd brought along. Toriel had been charitable to a bunch of spiders holding a "bake sale" and had come away with a jug of spider cider and some cups. Steven had to fight himself pretty hard not to lose his breakfast at the sight of the cider. Toriel cautioned him not to judge it by appearances as it did have a very syrupy taste about it. Her response filled him with skepticism of the highest order…

"So you wish to know about the barrier…" She said finally as they sat down. Steven nodded and braced himself. She'd made mention of it before and that had been in an attempt to dissuade him from pursuing it. She said it'd been dangerous…

"The barrier was set down on our side by the people of the underground. It's a simple spell that forbids entry of those who aren't like us." Steven nodded, and she continued, "The Gems added a second layer that denies passage to our kind."

"But we took down our barrier ages ago during the extermination war. That was when we found the Gem Barrier holding us back. We'd been hoping on fleeing the gems during the war. The Gem Barrier is an astoundingly huge egg shape that seemingly permeates the entire surface rock layer of the mountain above us and ends only a few kilometers around the base of the mountain."

"Okay… so why would going towards it be dangerous?" Steven asked. Toriel grimaced,

"To be honest, staying around here is also dangerous. The difference would be that here I have influence and the ability to protect you from anyone would'd wish you harm." Steven was grateful for the gesture but it didn't really answer his question. Was it the fear of gems and that people would attack him for it?

"What's so dangerous down here. It just seems like there's a lot of Gem fear down here. Nobody seems to scared to hurt me. All I have to do is show them I mean them no harm and I'm sure everyone will see that there's nothing to be scared of." Toriel let out a sigh of satisfaction at those words,

"If only it were so simple Steven." She shook her head slowly, "But outside the ruins and Home City Asgore holds sway." She looked mournful then at the mention of Asgore. Steven swallowed. The name sent a shiver through him and that ominous feeling spiked as if the name itself was a foothold for it to emerge into the fore of his mind. He beat it back as he focused on the present.

"So does this Asgore guy have loads of really tough guys waiting to take out gems or something? We could just sneak by him and pretend I'm just some human." He gestured to himself. With the shirt on Steven really did look as human as they came. Toriel shook her head again,

"That's not the problem. Asgore is actively looking for humans that drop into the underground." She tsked and hesitated then. She shook herself and took a deep breath, "I won't lie to you my child but Asgore wishes to extract humans Souls to undo the barrier with magic."

Steven lifted a brow at her, "Wait, what?"

"A Soul is a person's full makeup. Everything about them is stored within it. It's their very being. Magic strikes at that. Of course you still get hurt but magic does more harm to the soul. My very body is made of magic and should I be struck down… my soul will break."

Steven was suddenly very grateful his shield hadn't done more than knock Toriel's hand away. He'd seen shockwaves from it shatter clones of Pearls and Lapis. Sure he had to send power into the shield each time to do that but still. To think that Toriel was a magic version of that and could have easily suffered the same fate filled him with dread. She could've died right there. ACTUALLY DIED!

"But-but that requires a lot of killing intent and power to accomplish!" Toriel added hastily and Steven suddenly became aware that he was shaking and his face was moist and warm from crying. He wiped his tears away and focused. Now was not the time to be blubbering over

what if.'

"So he needs human Souls to break this barrier and I'm human with a soul he can use." Steven stated as he forced the topic back to why it was dangerous to go to the barrier. Having his Soul taken from him sounded like an exceedingly bad thing.

"But uh… how powerful is this Asgore person? Is he a Mayor or some kind of General?" Steven hoped he was just some school yard bully. It'd be nice to have some thug walk up to him and ask him for his soul or he'd get pounded. It was almost comical in his mind. Toriel's strained expression told him that his whimsical idea was very much a fantasy.

"Asgore is the king of the underground." "oh…" Steven blanched. So he was up against a King. A King who seriously wants his soul to free his kingdom from gem technology that's holding them underground for a long time since some big war that threatened to wipe them off the face of the planet. Steven suddenly felt very very conflicted.

He could understand that. His mother had been in the very same shoes. He lived with her closest friends! All of them had fought for a brighter future for the people they loved, for the freedom to be who they were and for the very planet's existence and all that lived on it. He could really feel for that. Heck, Steven wanted to meet him now… if only to ask him about what it felt like.

He gripped his mother's gem. A lifetime of hearing about her and trying to live up to her hadn't left him with much about what kind of person she was. Oh sure! people had talked about how kind she was, how braved she'd been to lead the rebellion, how she loved all life on earth and saw beauty in all, how she did this and that.

But that was the talk of heroes. Steven knew that intimately. He once held the Crystal Gems up as paragons of virtue that saved the day just like the superheroes in his comic books. Living with them proved to make them just people. People with problems like Pearl's maladjustment to his mother's passing. Amethyst's self esteem and negative self image. The near crushing weight of all possible bad timelines that sat on Garnet's shoulders and how hard it was to manage it.

Heroes are one thing but people are another. He didn't want to know Rose Quartz the hero. He wanted to Rose Quartz the person and his mother.

"Y'know maybe I should go have a talk with this Asgore." Steven nodded at his own words, "Yeah, maybe I can do something for him."

"NOO!" Toriel roared! "YOU CAN'T TRUST A COWARD LIKE HIM! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!"

Steven recoiled from her sharply. For a moment her dark black eyes turned crimson and the air around her stirred. Her bearing changed and she bared her teeth. Fangs that normally poked out daintily flashed white for all the world to see. She looked every bit the part of a Monster. Steven felt his heart stop at the sight of her.

"Tori, please…" He begged as his voice rose in pitch at his desperation. "I-I j-just thought that he sounded like my mom. I-I-I wanted to talk to him. Maybe being a Gem might help undo the barrier without my Soul. Tori please…"

"That man can't be reasoned with! He's always going on about how he needs to keep the people's hopes up and how he needs to be their leader. The fool just arrogantly thinks if he can just give these people the illusion of hope that things will get better! Trumpeting his idiot propaganda! All at the expense of poor children that wander into the underground. Poor INNOCENT CHILDREN!" She howled her venom. Steven scrambled back away from her but she kept on, "CHILDREN! HOW DARE HE! HOW DARE HE!"

She pounded the ground and screamed, "CHILDREN! CHILDREN! Children! Children.. Children… chil…. dren..."

Toriel's body drooped as her anger bled out of her. The bestial features shedding and being replaced with the homely demeanor Steven had come to know in the previous hours. Where she'd been roaring out her grievances now she wept. There was a bitter quality to her words but they struck the soul now not with force but with a horrid sting simply by virtue of their speaker.

And then Steven understood. Protecting him. A reputation with children. Influence here. The manor. Being a Commander. He looked away. He didn't want to know this. He thought if he just didn't look at her he could forgot what he'd understood. That he could preserve her the way she'd been before. Because what he thought hurt too much. It'd been there for him to see since the moment he'd met her.

A mother in mourning. A widower from doing the right thing. A soul gone from a ruined home.

A sound body but a broken heart.

He did the only thing he could. He threw his little arms around her and stayed there.

* * *

Poor Toriel. Your strength for leaving your husband and taking action never gets enough attention in the fandom. She's got such a rich story that I felt it would've been uncouth to modify it more than I had to. All I did was make mention that she fought in the war to set up her recognition of Rose's Shield. I had a great deal of trepidation writing this that I'd pull a "The lady doth protest too much" with her depiction. I hope that that didn't happen...

So this is the last chapter that takes place in the Ruins. I'm pretty excited to get to a more varied setting. Dark caves are all fine and well but there's only so much I can do with just Dark and Cold. Funny that Snowdin's pretty much the same but with trees. Meh.

Yes yes, The barrier's no longer a human thing. There's a good reason for that: Because we have assets from the Steven Universe series just lying around and the Fic features Steven as the main character. Gotta get some character tension out of this. But honestly I wanted the world to make a bit more sense and you'll sorta understand when we hit the barrier storywise.

Let me know if this story's doing okay or if it's starting to tank a bit.

Also I'm super happy that I'm closing in on 16670 words. I need to get enough done for a stream thing on Saturday and a recovery on sunday that I need at least 2 days worth of progress to save my skin. Also I've done enough backstory shenanigans that from here on I need to start moving plot rather than slather more history and junk onto the page. That's scary as we're not even a quarter done and I'm starting to run short of solid details...

Day 4

Word count: 13362 (3039 Today)


	5. Chapter 5 Two Guys and a Girl

A/N: I'm not satisfied with this one. There are a lot of small issues that I can't immediately correct from lack of sleep, time and general energy. I fulfilled my quota for the day and some extra so I shouldn't complain. I just wished I'd been able to polish this a bit more...but them's the breaks in a NanoWrimo.

Let me know if I'm being too dramatic in the story. I think I overdid some of snowdin but that's a consequence of trying to fluff a story up to have more words.

Now then. Story time begins!

* * *

The sun was setting on the world above when Steven took his first tentative steps into the passage leading beyond the ruins. He shifted the heavy pack that rested unnaturally on his shoulders with a grunt of effort. He blinked impassively at the dimly lit hallway that stretched on into the darkness ahead. In some ways he was grateful that he was feeling down. It meant that Toriel had really made an impact on him despite how the two of them had only met a day ago.

After the picnic Toriel had thrown herself into getting him ready. He'd most definitely seen more magic being flung around that afternoon that he was probably going to see for the rest of his life. All manner of sewing utensils clicking together in the air as they produced sweaters, coats, hats, socks and undergarments. The kitchen was a cacophony of pots, pans and cups. The oven bore heat all afternoon.

Toriel herself was in the living room withdrawing books from the shelf. She'd browse through one quickly before either replacing it on the shelf or flinging it towards the dinning table. The books would land on top of each other forming a precarious tower of tomes. All the while she had a pen dancing on the table over a large piece of parchment. Steven had found out later that she'd been making him a map of the Underground beyond the Ruins.

The end result of all of this wizardry were the contents of the bag he bore now. Food enough to last him the journey and then some. Resources about the areas he'll be visiting as well as a comprehensive field guide. The ever important map. Warmer clothes and lighter ones that Toriel assured him would be necessary. Lastly a first aid kit.

It weighed him down and Steven wondered if he could even make the journey with it on!

"Just think this is like the runaway boys… I'm actually running away from Home." He bristled at the lame attempt at humor as he set off down the passageway. Toriel had said that she'd see him off at the gates out to what she called Snowdin. The map told him that Snowdin was by far the widest portion of the underground and also the region with the least amount of Gem incursion or attack. It was also the coldest.

"Makes sense, no gem cannon stuff means no holes and no holes means no sunlight." Even as he walked he could feel the tunnel getting cooler. He hoped it was the contrast between the warm Dreemurr manor and this unheated space but as he continued the cold began to bite at him. He quickly donned the warmer clothes.

"Goodbye sandals, I'll see you soon." He pulled out the snow boats Toriel had made for him. Toriel was if anything thorough and conscientious about this sort of thing. The difference in feel of closed toe footwear was immediately apparent to young Steven. He wiggled his frozen toes a bit as they warmed in the fur lined interior of the boots. Fancy!

Toriel came into sight now with a physical torch in hand rather than one of her floating flames. She had on a thick coat on with a fur trim to it's collar with a pair of white mittens over her hands. A beret covered her head and horns while a scarf covered most of her neck. Outside of the change of attire She looked visibly aged. She moved very slowly and only with explicit purpose. Steven's lips thinned and his face tightened when he noticed these things. She went to a lever and pulled on it with all the force she could muster.

The door standing off to her said had been barred with a large heavy iron grate on it. Said grate began to retract upwards into the arch of the door's threshold. The bare naked double doors stood there then with the iconography from the arch and Toriel's dress. Steven still wondered if this was some family crest or something of the like but now might not be the best time for such idle thoughts. He had a journey to begin and a king to talk to.

"So this is it, huh?" Steven tried as he approached her. She nodded but then reached into his pack and withdrew a satchel of her own. Steven blinked and wondered how he'd missed that! He was grateful however that the pack was now substantially lighter and he didn't feel like a ten tonne weight with legs.

"Steven, I'm going to be with you until you reach the Hotlands beyond Snowdin. There's someone I desperately need to see in Snowdin that might be of some assistance to the both of us." Steven perked right up at that,

"Alright! Snow'd in Buddies!" Toriel chuckled as she opened the first of the double doors. A blustery winter winds laced with snow rushed in to welcome them into the frozen wastes of Snowdin. "Oh…" Steven croaked as his body quaked at the idea of going into that. A lifetime in Beach City's relatively calm climate hadn't truly prepared him for this.

"We'll warm up as we walk. Now come on." Toriel set about to braving the storm. With little alternative Steven followed behind her with faith that her words would come true for it was indeed freezing. The wind was powerful enough to shut the door as soon as Toriel let go of it. The sound of it slamming shut was immediately lost in the wails of the wintery whirlwinds.

Where the Ruins had been dark at least it hadn't the issue of snow falling to obscure visibility. Here in the path only went a meter or two a head of you behind it was swallowed up by the glut of darkness and snow. Not that it mattered much. The wind battered against you in an effort to steal heat from you and blind you with a barrage of snowflakes. Between the two it was a wonder Steven could see anything at all!

"STEVEN! HAND!" Toriel cried out amidst the winds as she reached out to him. He gratefully latched onto her as she continued "HEAD STRAIGHT! STAY AWAY FROM THE TREES!"

Steven gave her a weak thumbs up as he followed behind her. That wasn't difficult. He did realize that if he should lose Toriel in this storm he would need to fall back on those words. He tightened his grip on her hand and prayed that the storm would either pass or that they'd reach civilization soon. This all reminded him of the vision Garnet gave him last winter that involved him walking to Connie's house in the snow during a snowstorm.

It hadn't been fun and the sensation of constantly jumping back and forth across a mental timeline had been nauseating in far too many ways to be fair. Thankfully the last few times Garnet had passed on a portion of her sight to him they'd been solitary flashes that didn't leave him wanting a barf bag. He was dramatizing but it had been incredibly jarring none the less.

* * *

Up ahead came the sight of salvation! A lit lamp post. The golden candescent glow of it was enough to make the two of them redouble their efforts towards it. A small hut of sorts stood towards the edge of the lamps inviting light. A small plume of smoke rose from the tin chimney. Toriel halted when she noticed this.

"ROYAL GUARD!" Steven thought he misheard that,

"WHAT!?" Toriel Shook her head,

"HIDE! ASGORE." Steven gave her another thumbs up as he made to go around the hut. Toriel continued down the path towards the hut. Steven tried to stay close, he wasn't about lose his life line from one measly bump on the road. The walls of the hut were warm to the touch and he gladly sidled along it until his back was facing the direction he'd come from. He peeked out to watch what Toriel was doing.

She went up to the hut. There was something like a window to it. This window was divided into two seconds. THe first section was made of wood and looked like it could be shifted to the side if it had to be. Cut into its surface was a small slip in it that could be pulled back to let the occupant view whatever or whomever was outside it. The second section was a pane of one way mirror that reflected the inky expanse of the wastes around them. It all served to make Steven think of those clandestine cop stake outs but in a hut instead of a car. He doubted there'd be donuts or junk food to be had on this stake out.

Toriel knocked on the wooden section twice but avoided the little slip in the wood. The slip pulled back revealing the empty eye sockets of a skull. White lights flickered within those sockets and they scanned the outside in confusion.

"Who's there?" It's voice was low and had blunt rounded syllables. It almost drawled out as if the speaker wasn't putting backbone into his words but trying to get the task of speaking out of the way. Toriel smirked at the sound of the voice,

"Old lady." she replied. The slip closed and then the whole wooden section slide open,

"Old lady who." Steven wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Inside the hut was a skeleton wearing a dark wife beater with a pair of slate colored camo pants. The skeleton was about his fathers height and build… which was strange given the lack of muscles or girth to his body. The chest cavity was oddly plated and armored and puffed up than a normal humans. Steven blinked at the skeleton as it looked to Toriel.

"So, you's the lady behind the door." The skeleton held a bony hand to her and she shook it with great applomb. "Nice to finally meet you. Name's Sans."

"A pleasure to meet you. My name is Toriel. Toriel Dreemurr." Sans nodded,

"Of course, Leave it to me to be cracking jokes with the Queen of the Underground. Cripes. Begging your pardon your highness but what're you doing out here in the cold?" He thumbed back towards the door and the path they'd come from. "Don'tcha have a warm place to stay or somethin'?"

"I'm currently making my way to Snowdin. I need to see Dr. Gaster the Royal Scientist. Do you know if he's still living in Snowdin?"

"Woah, you're lookin' for my father now? I knew the underground was a small world but this is a bit out there." Toriel smiled warmly as she motioned towards Steven to come out. With some reluctance he came out. Sans the skeleton chuckled to himself.

"What'll they think up next." He joked to himself. He took a moment to take Steven in before introducing him, "Guess you already heard but the name's sans." Again the bony hand reached out for a shake.

Steven looked it over curiously. The novelty of shaking a skeleton's hand wasn't lost to him. He thought it was pretty cool to be honest. More like amazing beyond belief. However… he sorta wanted to know how it worked. Bones don't move on their own, they need muscle for that, so how's he doing it. Sans, evidently a master of eyeless observation, interjected,

"Kid, I'm a skeleton made with magic, bones and lots of cool. You gonna shake or leave me hanging?"

"Heh, sounds like my kind of bone-buddy!" The innuendo made Toriel blush but Sans took it as Steven intended as they shook hands. A quick parental disapproval behind his back before Sans redirected the conversation back at Toriel,

"Alright your highness, I'm wagering you want to get down to Snowdin and out of there without bein' seen, right?"

"Exactly." Sans nodded before poking his head back into the hut. It was odd. Somehow Steven was more at ease looking at Sans than most of the denizens of the Ruins. He noted that it might have something to do with him not looking misshapen and being extremely close to looking human sans the squishy bits. Maybe it was the way the skeleton carried himself. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something inherently different.

"So, I've got good news and better news!" Sans replied as he stuck his head back out into the cold. "Good news is you should have no problem waltz'in into Snowdin and out. The better news is that even if you get caught you'll only meet up with my brother."

"Oh yes, you did mention you had a brother once upon a time." Sans nodded in appreciation of her memory. "I thought you mentioned that he was… a bit… overeager."

"Uh… does overeager mean dangerous?" Steven couldn't help think of Skeletor from the cartoons. Sure he was a bumbling villain but there was something about living out magic battles and stuff that made things several times more dangerous than they did in the show. Sans' bones jangled in laughter at the human,

"Dangerous, ho ho, Maybe to himself but he's harmless. The worst he can do is leave you a bit blue but that could be the cold getting to you before he's done. He's an Ice guy if you know what I mean."

"Oh dear not again!" Toriel giggled, "You're going to get Steven started with his jokes."

"Oh yeah? you've got some time. Lay it on me little man. If my knock-knock partner says you're a real comedian I gotta get a load'a this." Sans leaned against the counter of the security checkpoint with anticipation in his eyeless sockets. Toriel was also similarly awaiting what silly idea he'd come up with this time. Steven beamed at challenge of wowing another connoisseur of comedy. He'd have rolled up his sleeves… if it hadn't mean riskingt frostbite in doing so.

"I'll throw you a bone. Tori did say I'm quite Humerus after all." Steven pointed to his forearm for emphasis and Sans shook his head in shame.

"Wow, kid…" Sans' permanent grin faltered, "That's like the billionth time I've heard that one."

Toriel's face was screwed up trying not to laugh at Steven's deflated joke. She wasn't terribly successful in this effort which took a bit of wind out of Steven's sail. The human looked severely nonplussed. After a moment of brainstorming he brightened again as he came up with another!

"You sure or are you just ribbing me!" Both inhuman wise-crackers snickered at that. It wasn't the greatest puns as puns came but a snicker was a snicker. An accomplished grin shone on Steven's somewhat flushed face. It had been a long and hard brain storm, alright?

"Alright! That's more like it." A quick peek at what Steven assumed was a clock inside the hut, "Oh man, I'd love to chat s'more but I don't think either of you's gonna be looking so hot if you do."

It was true. Both of them were starting to shiver. Their noses were starting to run and Steven looked a bit more blue than normal. Sans's permagrin seemed to flatten into a strained gritting of his teeth as he observed how run down they were. His hands twitched from something as his eyes darted in thought. He shook it off before kicking back in his chair. "Arrivederci you two."

Bidding him a good day the duo trudge on through the snow. The two joined hands again as they walked off to brave the rest of the way to town. The walking certainly warmed them up but Steven knew his face was going to feel terrible when he got the chance to thaw.

* * *

Sans doesn't strike me as being Sans'y enough. I should make him more laidback and "lazy" the next time I get to characterize him. He sounds almost OCD here from all the times he's checking the clock... something I tend to do a bit too much.

Yeah I changed the story to have Toriel follow Steven around a bit. Just seemed to fit her. There'll be implications for this that'll change the way that the story unfolds but we'll deal with that later... when I actually write that part.

Day 5

Word Count: 15998 total (2636 Today)

So close to 10 days worth of material! I should back off a bit and take a mental break from writing. I'm freaking bushed for these late night writing sessions...


	6. Chapter 6 The break chapter

A/N: Okay so this is going to be a stupidly short chapter. I've gotten a lot of story out of me int he past few days and frankly I'm not feel up to it right now. So I'm giving myself a few days break while I attend other matters. I'm good up till the 10th of the month anyways so all this extra effort is just overkill at this point. Gotta do a few things in this chapter before I take a break to set down the direction for when I return.

Enjoy this... 700 word chapter.

* * *

The path leading down to Snowdin curved and wound itself around the many chasms that characterized the landscape. There were a few bridges here and there that made these chasms traversible… or duly attempted at that task. For the most part Toriel and Steven steered clear of them for the simple reason that these constructions had fallen into disrepair or were too poorly constructed to be counted on to support them across a nigh definitely fatal encounter with the ground far below.

As they descended down the slope they were pleased to know that the storm abated to some extent. It appeared that the majority of the path ran through a valley that assisted in shielding travelers and Royal Guard patrolmen from the storm. There were plenty of opportunistic vendors along the way that catered specifically to Guardsmen on duty… although why the vast majority of them carried dog treats in small packages mystified Steven to no end.

The stores were very much like the hut that Sans had been stations but cheerful signage proclaiming their purpose as opposed to Sans' outpost which bore nothing of the sort. They also included something a keen to basic lighting. Steven noted that it was simply an impossibly long array of extension cords rigged up to a dozen or more strings of Christmas tree lights. Some of them even did the nifty color alternating thing that wasn't nearly as awesome when they were supposed to be providing steady illumination.

The lack of good lighting actually played to their favor. Steven got that almost immediately for the both of them. One didn't simply allow the queen of the underground and a human to walk by here. There was a big plan to grab the human and there was almost certainly a sort of royal decree that all under the crown were duty bound to return the queen to her place. While Steven was fine pulling on a scarf to hide his face Toriel didn't have that luxury. A head structure like hers simply didn't allow.

That was why every time a vendor called out to them they flinched at them. Like one such lagomorph,

"Yoho! I see you're not guards! Wouldn't you like a nice cup of soup or hot chocolate to warm up for a bit?" The both of them kept walking but if you could've seen their faces they both ached to take the vendor up on that offer. Toriel had been right. They had warmed up some but the cold still bit at them cruelly. The taste of harsh cold snow was also a torment all on it's own. It sapped warmth right out of their noses and mouths and made them pray for relief all the more.

Steven hoped that they'd come upon some place to rest for the night. He had read enough books about explorers to know that falling asleep in the tundra was a very quick and comfortable way to die. While he was worried that was a thing he couldn't help but feel his body start to move more slowly and that his eyes were heavy. Toriel's hand pulling on his own was sometimes the only thing keeping him from stopping and slipping off.

"Tori," he finally groaned out, "I think we need to find some place to rest or something. I keep falling asleep on my feet."

Toriel looked visibly pained as she continued on with him in hand, "I know Steven but…" A note of anxiety colored her words as she starred at the dimly light distance before them. Who was to say that the town wasn't just ahead of them of a million miles away. Steven knew on an intellectual level that these shop keepers had to come from somewhere but how was he to know whether or not they had some kind of underground system that conveniently led from one end of a place to another in no time at all.

"ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SNOWDIN TOWN?" The both of them jumped at the sudden voice despite it's obvious cheer and optimism. They snapped their heads around to see whoever it was that had spoken to them.

"I THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DIRECT YOU! NYEHEHEHEH!"

* * *

Day 6

Word count 16705 (707 today)

See you on the 8th or so... depending on when I'm fit enough to write again!


	7. Chapter 7 BRIAN BLESSED

A/N: In the world it's Write of be Written off.

I am not dead. I assure you that I've been contending with various things that have prevented me from delivering my daily dabblings into digital depiction. A good bit of apprehension at not being able to deliver a satisfying bit of prose was a big part of that. The other bit was that I was dead tired from doing my little bit for Nov 7th. I realize that a week is a terribly long time but I hope to catch up. That's why I pulled out all the stops and wrote my pants off with this larger than normal chapter.

We've got a lot of catching up to so onwards to 50K we go!

* * *

Steven didn't have to be told. He knew what or whom he was looking at. It was fairly obvious. A tall almost lanky version of Sans stood before them with a goofy grin. Unlike Sans' informal attire with only a passing admittance of a uniform, this skeleton bore more strikingly military features. He was decked out in armor. It was a full plate and mail! A red slightly tattered cape hung from his back and there were a few medals pinned to this chest or in this case welded. One of said medals bore the symbol from Toriel's dress another reminder to Steven that he hadn't addressed the issue with Toriel.

Nevertheless the tall skeleton was talking and Steven was spacing out looking at its armor.

"SO WHAT BRINGS YOU TO SNOWDIN TOWN?" He chirped as he inspected them. "YOU TWO DON'T LOOK THE SORT TO HAVE RELATIVES HERE. TOURISTS PERHAPS OR MAYBE YOU HEARD OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND WANTED AN AUTOGRAPH!"

Reaching to his waist the skeleton swiped a pen from some unseen pouch and brandished it. "FEAR NOT! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS READY TO PLEASE HIS ADMIRERS!"

"Oh dear, no." Toriel cut him off and Steven was glad for that. The skeleton looked poised to sign their foreheads from the way he was moving. "We're here to see Dr. Gaster. It'd be ever no so nice of you to lead us to his home… the storm has left us greatly diminished."

"AH! HOW INCONSIDERATE OF ME. FEAR NOT, I WILL HAVE YOU THERE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!" The Skeleton turned down the path and held up a single finger as he dramatically pointed straight ahead, "COME THE GOOD DOCTOR AWAITS!"

Steven jovially concluded that Papyrus was a little kid in a big albeit bony'er body. It warmed him to see some so similar to him. Although he did see how some of his own antics were a bit over the top now that he was on the receiving end of them… but he shrugged it off. He was just being who he was and most people appreciated that. He might get into trouble but he always tried his best to make it better. The Gems taught him that and he wasn't about to let them down.

Speaking of the gems, Steven thought back on that message from Connie. He'd meant to reply to her but the signal had apparently only been strong enough for him to receive a message. He'd tried to send one back as soon as he had time while Toriel had been making preparations but… it hadn't done him any good.

Of course the phone that Toriel had given him was old and didn't do text messages and the technology didn't reach outside the Underground. So in the end Connie's message had to be left unanswered by Steven… at least until he could reach the surface and get a proper signal.

"Hey Tori?" She looked down to him and his questioning tone, "What's that mark on your dress mean?"

Toriel didn't look to her dress but her face was a flurry of expressions. Despite her inhuman features it certainly looked like she was having quite the time formulating a decent enough answer. She kept look at him as if to check something. Her brow rose with this as she kept walking behind Papyrus. Eventually she seemed to slump a bit before turning to Steven once more,

"Well, it's known as the Delta Rune." She paused as if searching for something more to say. She seemed to find it as she continued a moment later, "It's a kind of religion for us in the underground, or maybe a long standing belief might be more appropriate to say."

"So… like a tradition?" Toriel light up as she pointed at him in affirmation and excitement,

"Yes yes, exactly that." She fixed her face to something more placid when she realized she was on the verge of bouncing around like a child. "Well it's related to what I told you about Asgore absorbing human souls."

"Related? You mean they're the same thing? I'm a bit confused..." Toriel shook her head at his question.

"They are most certainly not the same thing." she huffed at the idea, "Asgore has twisted the Delta Rune's meaning to be something perverse and totally inappropriate to it's original meaning."

Steven had always kind of wondered what it would've been like to have had parents. He was also very curious as to how two adults acted together in a romantic relationship. Hollywood, the Maheswaran's, his Mom's home videos, his dad and the Gems had all given him a vague idea of what it was supposed to be like. He knew that his mom and dad were almost like best buddies from the videos but that was all before he had been born! He could never fully understand what it would've been like…

But he now knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he'd most probably have wet himself in terror at the prospect of living under the same roof as his mom and dad at the same time.

Toriel looked ready to tear Asgore's throat out with her teeth. Granted, the woman probably could with chompers like hers. All fire and vehemence boiling off of her. He's seen her before at the picnic but to see her flip over something like a religion was something else. Steven also made a mental note not to tangle with Christians… or anyone with a religious affiliation.

"Tori, are you going to be okay?" Steven asked when he was sure she wasn't going to reply "at him" rather than to him. She nodded,

"It's just a really important thing to us and having Asgore make it something entirely else is just hurtful." she fiddled with her claws for a bit before explaining, "The Delta Rune represents our hope of escaping the underground. It's really. EXCUSE ME! PAPYRUS! MAY WE STOP FOR A MOMENT?" The skeleton obliged and with great gusto marched on back to the two of them.

"CERTAINLY! WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO FETCH YOU ANYTHING, YOUR HIGHNESS?" Toriel waved him off and Papyrus proceeded to chat up a dog-person manning a road stand. With that out of the way Toriel gestured to herself and thus the Delta Rune on her dress.

"Now then Steven, please direct your attention to the little triangles situated beneath the circle." Steven did so, oddly reminded of Pearl in her teacher mode. "Those little triangles symbolize the people of the underground. Some variations of the Delta rune arrange these shapes into a sort of altar or as a loose 'w' shape with a line through it. This one, which is the commonly accepted rune, arranges them clustered together with two pointing downwards and one point upwards in a sort of pyramid."

"Asgore…" She growled out in irritation, "Did this to put a position for himself in the Rune. He's represented by the top most triangle and is supposed to be supported by the other two representing his people. Ugh, what a horrid desecration and exploitation of our culture."

"Tori, I don't know anything about this but maybe you shouldn't be so hard on Asgore." Steven started with a mountain of trepidation weighing on him. Toriel whirled on him and he did his best to keep the ball rolling, "He must have this reasons for doing all of this. I don't think he really wants to hurt anyone and it's like that alien character in the movie always says:

The needs of the few must outweigh the needs of the many." Steven held up his hand in a three pronged gesture and a flat naked palm. Toriel didn't know what to make of it but the words struck home for her,

"That's true… but we shouldn't take it from children." Toriel interjected. Steven's eyes went to the floor as the idea of it only being children having their souls taken filled him with dread.

"Is, Is it only children that fall into the underground? You haven't seen any adults here?" Toriel shook her head mournfully,

"It's only been children, over the years I've blocked off most routes leading to Asgore. Most of Old Home's citizens know to direct humans my way… but some still receive news from New Home and there's been a growing campaign to smuggle humans into New Home by any means." Steven grimaced at the possibility of being snatched up off the street. Maybe that could've happened if he hadn't revealed himself as a Gem alongside being human.

It was unsettling but it wasn't as if Toriel had witnessed any children been taken this way. She was the queen of old home and the underground after all. One does not simply pull a fast one on a mother hand, and she's already proven herself a magical powerhouse. It'd be tantamount of suicide to tussle with the likes of Toriel Dreemurr.

"Anyways the angel above those triangles," She paused before elaborating and rewording what she meant to say, "at least we refer to it as an angel, The earliest records of it unanimously call it the angel as well. A lot of people have their own interpretations but I prefer to stick to what the records say to be accurate."

"Angel… So, like those angels in those Christmas carols?" Steven hazarded a guess. He'd always wondered what angels were. Given the Gems and their spotty or non-existent understanding of human culture that little bit of social programming hadn't reached Steven. His dad had explained it a bit but Steven never really got the full idea of what an angel was. What it a good thing like all those carols meant? Then why were there games where there were angels of death or authoritarian guys with wings?

"Well… I suppose." From the lack of recognition on Toriel's face, Stevens suspected that Christmas wasn't a thing down in the Underground. To him that was tantamount of blasphemy, religiously and secularly… and LIFE-ulary/ously! Let it never be said that Steven isn't firm in his beliefs good readers. He politely and maturely stowed the idea away in some imaginary outbox in his mental office,

and then proceeded to pout at the idea that they didn't celebrate in the Underground.

"The angel is thought to be the way we as a people will come to escape the underground and return to the surface! It's such a romantic idea I get a bit flustered just thinking about it." Steven couldn't really see it because it was dark but beneath her fur Toriel really was flush with emotions. She did swoon a bit which Steven laughed at. It was all so comically exaggerated like from one of his saturday morning cartoons that didn't involve profuse secretions from one's lacrimal ducts.

"It sounds really cool Tori, I hope Mr. Angel comes down soon cause I think everyone back home would love to see you guys!" Steven assured with a big grin. Sure some of them would unlikely give the people of Beach City pause, and in Ronaldo's case a heartache and a nervous breakdown or nerd-gasm, but on the whole Steven couldn't think of anything cooler than these guys meeting HIS guys.

And no, he wasn't actually thinking of his toys.

"AH GOOD! I HAVE RETURNED AT JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT!" Papyrus remarked as he returned to them with a table… with a full spread of hot drinks, some cakes and a tea set. Stevens eyes bugged out and went wide at the strange sight but as the table was set down before them, he threw it all off and leapt at the mugs, yes plural, of hot chocolate and began sipping, carefully! "PLEASE ACCEPT THIS SMALL GESTURE FROM THE SNOWDIN ROYAL GUARDSMEN!"

"Oh, my!" Toriel squeaked at the offering, "Well, thank you very much. But... " She studied the road aroudn them and the vendors, "Wherever did you find a table out here?"

"THE GREAT BROTHER OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS WAS PASSING BY AND JUST HAPPENED TO HAVE ONE SUCH TABLE! IT WASN'T NECESSARY FOR I WOULD'VE HOSTED EVERYTHING ON MY BACK OTHERWISE!" The boisterous skeleton swiped an unclaimed mug off the table and tossed it skyward. In a feat of flexibility that astounded and positively unnerved both travelers Papyrus bent over backwards and flexed his rib cage so that the armor covering his torso bent and folded into a flat solid mass. The Mug clattered but landed miraculously without incident on his osteoblasted abs.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Belted out Steven as he excitedly hurried over to the table that was Papyrus. Toriel grimaced and tried to stop him,

"Oh, careful! You'll spill or slip or…" Steven was already at a standstill as her words slipped out. He was struck by the skeleton's control of his body. So much so that he set the mug down on Papyrus and tried to mimic him as best as he could. Oh how he huffed and puffed and held his breath to get his pudgy frame to assume the position of "table."

"AH! NOW YOU SEE THE TRIALS EVEN I HAD TO GO THROUGH TO HAVE SUCH PROWESS! EXCELLENT! PRACTICE PRACTICE AND YOU WILL HAVE IT!" As if to punctuate his statement Papyrus proceeded to assume an upright stance with the armor plants flexing once again to accommodate the mugs on his chest. Steven watched this with an unearthly fascination as Papyrus handed him his mug.

"Wow…" Stars were dancing in the young gem's eyes as he watched the bone man move. Toriel was right by his side with a hand out to help him up but the little man never let his eyes off the spectacle of ossification and kinesiology.

"OH" Papyrus bade him, "SO YOU WISH TO BE A ROYAL GUARD AS WELL!"

"Ah, no Papyrus. He's just amazed that you can move like that." Steven nodded alongside Toriel's statement. The skele-man grinned to himself which was quite the feat given that his features tended to make him do so regardless. Nevertheless he'd broken the rules of how bones move, why stop at the chest cavity when the plates of the skull lie in wait for such physics bending ministrations.

But such a Bone-anza would have to wait… They had a doctor to see!

* * *

Down the path and across the bridge, which Papyrus assured them was safe, they finally reached the bright and cheery Snowdin town. Steven was struck by a few things in the mess of buildings.

Firstly, the Underground did celebrate Christmas! That was something that had been on his mind as they walked to town and to see the horrendously large coniferous tree standing in the center of the village was quite reassuring to him. He wasn't like Toriel and would've been able to explain all of what a Christmas was. He'd just do what he did with the Gems for Birthdays… which was a disaster which even he had to admit to given that he almost aged himself to death. Talk about a mild-life crisis!

Secondly, the town was something out of one of his books on how Abraham Lincoln lived. There were nothing but log cabins standing amidst tall coniferous trees. There were a few modern conveniences such as mailboxes, cafes and a library in sight. Thankfully he hadn't seen an outhouse or at least he hadn't thought he'd seen anything resembling one. A few of the storage sheds here were suspect until he could get a whiff of them himself. Camping with Greg had solidified Steven's love of the porcelain throne by several orders of magnitude. Poor kid could hold it in for a while in the wait for the loo.

Thirdly, Papyrus was now holding him in what looked like a cage of bones.

"HUMAN! HOW CRAFTY OF YOU!" Papyrus belted out as he consolidated the cage with magic, "TO HIDE WITH THE QUEEN! VERY CRAFY OF YOU BUT NOT ENOUGH TO FOOL THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"

The bones themselves weren't too scary. It was the ever shrinking space between them. Sure Papyrus had made the cage bars too spread out to be off any use but after that little consolidation Steven could clearly see that he'd touch one. From what he could tell magic tended to not agree with him, if the magic of those X-pellets from Flowey were any indication. He scurred back away from them as he searched in vain for some way out. His eyes landed on Toriel, "Tori…"

"Papyrus, please, I order you to let him go at once!" protested the lady. "As Queen Toriel Dreemurr I order you to cease and desist this!"

That last bit made the royal guard falter for a moment. "BUT…. KING ASGORE…"

"yo papyrus." greeted Sans as he sauntered up to them with a take out bag labeled "Grillby's eats" on it, "what'cha up to bro?"

"AH SANS! I WAS JUST APPREHENDING A HUMAN CHILD! ANOTHER TO MY NAME AS A MATTER OF FACT!" Papyrus remarked, "BUT…"

"oh ho, so this is what a human looks like." Sans feigned ignorance as he faked an inspection of Steven, who was looking fairly confused, "are they supposed to look this freaked out bro?"

Papyrus blinked and looked over his brother at Steven. His empty sockets confirmed exactly what his brother had pointed out. Steven was curled up as tight as he could away from the bones that made up his prison. He looked quite heartbroken. To Steven he'd just lost a friend that he'd really liked. The back-breaking feats and the goofy antics felt so much like his own he thought he'd found a partner in crime. Sort of like with Amethyst back home but more goofy and closer to his own. In a way it reminded him of when he'd "cloned" himself by going back in time.

The guard grit his teeth at the decision, "BUT… I… I SWORE…"

"bro, just look at the bigger picture. you could be the escort to her highness over here. betcha asgore'll promote you again for bringing her home,eh?" Sans winked to Steven. The boy got it as he watched the lazier sibling work his routine on his more driven counterpart.

Papyrus brightened at this. "OF COURSE! EXCELLENT SUGGESTION SANS! I WILL BE SURE TO REPORT YOUR BRILLIANCE WHEN HER HIGHNESS IS REUNITED WITH KING ASGORE!" Toriel looked so betrayed at that moment. Steven could only imagine just how she felt. It reminded him of when Garnet had wigged out over Pearl using her to become Sardonyx to feel better for her own personal gain. Except this time it was all hurt and none of the bitter rage that Garnet let loose that day.

"alright, but don'tcha think asgore'll be all that happy if you tee off toriel over here with freaking out her human pal?" Sans looked to Toriel, "wage you'd get PUN-ished pretty fierce for a stunt like that."

The queen took a deep breath as she got it. Consoling done Sans shifted all of his focus back on his brother. Papyrus looked downright shaken at the idea of disappointing Asgore. A sense of dread seemed to come from his terrified features in the eyes of Steven. Then that feeling passed and Papyrus righted himself with his characteristic charm. With a snap the cage dissolved around Steven and the boy collapsed into a pile of relief.

Toriel rushed to him as Sans patted his brother, "you done good pap. you done good."

"THANKS SANS." Puffed out Papyrus as he eased the strain of the moment off of him, "YOU DON'T THINK SHE'LL…"

"pap, relax. does she look like the sort to remember that?" Papyrus looked as Steven was set on his feet after a bit of motherly examination and attention. It was that exact moment that Toriel shot Papyrus a dirty look. It was the sort of bone chilling glare that hinted at dark clouds, stormy seas, harsh winds and the roar of an oncoming tempest. And thus dread took to Papyrus' countenance…

"yo, i just got from talking to my old man. he says to come on down, he's apparently been expecting you. how don't ask me my father gaster's talks tend to require me to 'Gather my wits Faster.'" Steven frowned at the word joke but Toriel seemed to appreciate it from the polite chuckle it earned. Sans was a bit nonplussed but brushed it off, "eh, they can't all be winners."

* * *

The Gaster family residence was a simple affair. It was just another log cabin amidst all the rest. The only real differences were the high-tech equipment jutting from the roof and the prodigious space next to the house which Steven took to be a sort of parking lot from the wheel grooves in the dirt. The parking lot itself was empty of snow and bare dirt could be seen without trouble.

"WELCOME YOUR HIGHNESS TO OUR HUMBLE ABODE!" "yeah make yourselves comfy." Bade the brothers as they held the door opened and reverentially bowed to Toriel and Steven who gratefully hurried into the warm home. That was the first impression they got of the house, it was warm and inviting.

But that wasn't to say that it was just that from a thermodynamic perspective. The two story home had a charming appeal all it's own. Abstract art hung in frames on the wall alongside photos of whom they believed was Dr. Gaster and his sons. The pictures themselves varied and seemed to show the two skeletons growing older with time. Aside from the pictorial memorabilia there were a few certificates from institutions on the walls as well.

The furniture was also tasteful in that it duly attempted to dissipate the rich browns of the home. You had cream colored couches, white tables and cherry red carpets to offset the color scheme a bit. A few dashes of sky blue could be found in the flower vases and appliances here and there. Shelves with their colorful books seemed to rule the walls where there weren't photos and they held no shortage of intellectual stimulation.

"Well then, if you've had enough of my decor," Started the eloquent doctor, "Might I ask that you set yourselves? I understand that the trek from Old Home isn't too kind this time of day."

The good doctor was slim but well shaped. To Toriel and Steven he looked like some sort of missing link between the bones of Sans and Papyrus. Not too tall but definitely tall enough. None too lean but rounded enough to give the impression of fullness of his form. His face was a neat and strikingly handsome oval with a more human feel to them. There was none of the large cartoony features of his sons there, just business.

He was even dressed in a suit with a skinny tie. Sans had told them he'd been expecting them after all.

"Come come, you needn't gawk from the door." he shifted over a bit on the couch he was seated on before patting it invitingly,

The duo obliged and behind them came the brothers who went about tidying themselves before entering. The duo followed suit, not wishing to look like a bunch of uncivilized baboons in a guest's home. Steven because he felt the watchful presence of Pearl on him from somewhere and Toriel because she was a queen and this was sort of her schtick.

"There's no need to be so formal and rigid. We have much to speak of and not a whole lot of time. I do believe we are late as it is." the crisp clap of a pocketwatch sounded before Dr. Gaster put it away, "Mm, yes… but not tryingly so."

Steven and Toriel sat down on a couch next to Gaster's at long last. The good doctor gave them a moment to get themselves comfortable before he initiated the conversation,

"Nice and comfy," he noted with a smile, "now Ms. Dreemurr, I do believe you have questions I am to answer."

"Ever to the point Dr. Gaster." Toriel mused before she began, "Gaster, how many human souls has Asgore acquired up to now?"

Gaster didn't hesitate so much as look at Toriel more closely, "Ms. Dreemurr, You have your answer already."

"Six, yes…" She bit her lip anxiously at the number,

"I'm very sorry Ms. Dreemurr. You tried your very best to shelter them." Gaster shook his head, "and to answer the next question. Yes, Steven's soul will be the last needed for him to gather enough power to shatter the barrier."

"But… I'm part Gem. Does that count for something?" Steven ventured as he saw Toriel grow more and more crestfallen. Gaster nodded with a warm smile,

"It counts for everything my boy!" Gaster exclaimed, "What better person than a half-gem human to bridge the gap between Gems, Humans and the Underfolk! I'd say it's poetic but it's all been ordained already."

"Huh?" Steven said. Sans was snickering the corner as he mouthed 'gather my wits faster.'

"Your family is on their way Steven. I'm a very perceptive individual and I can 'feel' them coming." Gaster tapped at his noggin which let out a hollow tone at his movements. "At the rate they're going, they'll reach the barrier as fast as you will as long as you continue on your way."

"Oh, that's good! I'll just wait for them here then." Gaster wrinkled his nose at Steven,

"Dear me, do you think that would be for the best?" Steven sat up at the tone Gaster's voice took for it filled him with dread. "Good I have your attention now."

"I've heard word that there's been a Gem incursion in Old Home recently. Intelligence suggests it was some shirtless human with a bit of chub." Steven scowled at the remark as he felt at himself. He was not fat, he was well rounded like everyone wants to be.

"Now why would a sweet young lad such as yourself start throwing around your powers so blatantly as to cause a stir enough that I can hear about it from Snowdin,a veritable world removed, hm?" Steven guiltly thought back to that moment and what he'd been feeling. He could remember how he felt about these creatures and how they looked like Gem mutants. THey were monsters to him, fit to be feared and rightly destroyed or repelled.

"Would your beloved family take kindly to the Underfolk?" Steven grimaced as he realized the singular truth of the Gems entering the Underground.

It'd be the Extermination war all over again. Eons of honing their abilities would've doubtlessly made the Crystal Gems better at slaughtering these people. Steven didn't want that. He wanted to take some of these people back to Beach City to show just how cool some of they were and to help them out. Sure he didn't know how he was going to do that but he'd cross that bridge when it comes.

"Yes, quite the intelligent young man we have here." Gaster gave him a thumbs up as he looked to his elder son, "Papyrus, I trust our guest room is ready."

"BUT OF COURSE FATHER! I TIDY IT AT DAWN AND DUSK!" Gaster nodded his approval at which Papyrus beamed at,

"I do believe it's time that our good travellers rest before we continue this. I believe that we've exchanged enough words for now. You'll be more fit to word your inquiries in the morn." Gaster stood and bowed to them, "Besides, My sweet Papyrus needs his bedtime story."

"OH BOY!" That certainly got Papyrus sprinting for his room. Gaster lightly chuckled his rambunctious son. Toriel seemed to brighten somewhat at the sight of Gaster's expression. Steven did the same but he was looking at Papyrus instead. He wondered how his dad was now. Greg would read to him before bed just as Gaster was about to. He hoped that the Gems weren't bringing him along, he didn't want his dad going through "crazy magic stuff" to get to him as his dad put it.

"Hi ho, hi ho, It's off to bed you go." Gaster bid them and, with a swift point and thumb, had Sans show them to their room.

"sure thing, pops."

* * *

I think I've gotten a good idea of how to write the current roster of main characters. Sleep deprivation does strange things to a man's noggin.

Gaster's about to be my saving grace in this fic. I'm going to milk him for all he's worth! Such a good character that needs to be explored more. I thought to give his sons' and himself a bit of "impossibility" to mimic their behaviors in-game. Things a character shouldn't normally do. I hope you enjoy those little quirks as things progress.

I apologize to all of my readers. I didn't intend to do this but again, I was so slammed with fatigue that if I wrote anything I'd have just vomited thoughts on the page without grace or forethought. Nanowrimo is about that sort of business... but I'm a bit vain and would love to count myself a storyteller. I can't very well do that if I couldn't story craft on the fly now can I?

Also how's my attempts at humor working for you guys. My material's horridly dry given my science background but I really hope Osteoblasted and Bone-anza were to your liking.

Day 14

Word Count 21417 total (4712 today)


	8. Chapter 8 The Talk

A/N: Been contending with things on my end. I think if I can hold down a steady ~5000 word goal for a week I should catch up and win nanowrimo. This is the first of hopefully 6 days of material.

I'm late by like 3 days but that's okay, this is about 3.5 days of material anyways.

we have a lot of ground to cover and this is a rather length chapter with lots of stuff going on. So onwards to 50K!

* * *

Steven wasn't an expert on how "normal" homes worked but he was sure that what he was looking at wasn't "normal." The main room of the Gaster home branched off into two hall ways, one heading east and the other west. Both hallways seemed to stretch a remarkable distance for such a modest home. Sans assured him in his typical nonchalant tone that this was normal. Steven severely doubted this.

That wasn't to say that the rooms offered to them weren't wonderful. For a bunch of cue ball white skeletons they sure knew how to be excellent hosts. Even Toriel was impressed,

"cripes, you gotta hand it to my old man. he does love his home decorating." Sans noted as he swung open the door to what would be their guest room which, to be fair, was more of a suite. Swung open might not be the best of words as the stocky skeleton had to slam his shoulder against the door a couple times to get it to budge. It was one of those large reinforced doors and from the dents and warps on its surface this was a well-used door.

Inside was a cozy sitting room. There was no sense of color coordination in the room. Rugs and carpets lined the floor with a myriad of colors that made you think a colorblind person had picked them out. Tapestries covered the brick walls where they weren't occupied by shelves of books. In one lone corner there was a single star wars poster. The furniture on the floor was made up of sofas of varying degrees of wear and tear.

A small kitchen lay in the back with oddly old school technology for appliances. A small bedroom with a conspicuous mickey mouse clock stood next door.

"oh yeah, the wiring to the room's shot. my old man said something about it being cursed or haunted or hexed. doesn't matter cause there's loads of candles lying around." Toriel was kind enough to light a couple with a snap of her hands. The suite became almost homely if a bit chilly.

Steven smiled as a pun wandered into his head, "heh, what a wick explanation!"

Toriel, ever the pun-noisseur, smiled but only weakly. It was late and the duo really could use the rest. Sans seemingly chose not to grace them with any sort of reaction… or maybe that grin of his was sincere? Steven was still puzzling that out for him. The man's face was a perpetual state of cheery stoicism that somewhat unnerved him now that he had time to consider it.

"you twos should hit the sack. my old man's probably going to jaw you into next century tomorrow so rest up." And with that the night concluded as all parties went to bed…

The following morning proved pleasant to Steven… after he got over the soreness. He'd been on his feet for most of the day and a good part of the night before. He cracked open his eyes to the sensation of his body wishing for the peaceful embrace of morpheus or death, his corporeal self hadn't quite made up it's mind about which.

Begrudgingly he forced himself to wake properly. The Gems had done various things over the years to help him out in society. Pearl had endeavored to educate him a bit. Of course that meant poor Steven had to be subjected to an odd mish-mash of Victorian era styled schooling with parts of other time periods mixed in. It was an eye opening ordeal for him that made him appreciate the benefits of modern life. Leeches and him did not sit well.

Garnet had taken to training Steven every so often. Steven had had a calisthenics routine he'd picked up from his father. The fusion gem had mistaken it for a fusion dance routine at one point and that had prompted several talks about good and proper fusion etiquette. Imagine having the birds and the bees talk at an awkwardly young age and you can feel out just how strange it all was to young Steven.

Amethyst… had been Amethyst. Pranking and Play were her contributions to Steven's upbringing. Steven wondered if she'd been an influence to some of his puntastic jokes. He shrugged, one could never really know.

A quick trip to the bathroom, which strangely enough had a toothbrush suspiciously identical to the one he had back home, and he was mostly ready for the day. Mostly in the sense that he was still wearing Toriel's loaner shirt and hadn't changed undergarments in some time. He was somewhat used to this. He hadn't spent a few days on an island with friends without gaining a level of insensitivity to gross stuff. They did have to gut and clean fish with semi-human faces on them. That had been an exercise in bravery for sure. Lars whined all the way through while Saddie had shown them how to clean.

"I hope you had a pleasant rest." Steven jumped as Gaster appeared in the hallway. "Couldn't help but notice that you're thinking about home."

"Oh, I uh…" Steven tried for some kind of response. "A lot of things here remind me of home or things I did back home. It's sorta weird."

"Hmm, that's to be expected." Gaster had this very satisfied smirk on which made him look very much like his son Sans. "That a side, I had hoped to speak with you privately about something of import."

This struck Steven as moderately suspicious. Keeping secrets wasn't something Steven enjoyed. He was proficient at it, given that he had to keep a lid on several things between the Gems. The alternative was blabbing and causing a firestorm of drama, unfortunate consequences and raised tempers. Steven wasn't about that life in the slightest. Nobody has time for super powered magic gem fights in your living room.

Especially not about his mother.

"Well I'm not really sure I want to be keeping secrets from Tori." Gaster nodded in understanding.

"No no, this isn't a secret. Ms. Dreemurr knows what I'm going to tell you. It's merely that she does not wish you to know such things. Never the less it is only right that you should be informed to better understanding the situation you're presently in." Gaster explained, "Come, we shall have this discussion in my study."

He opened a door directly in front of the bathroom. It was a small room filled to bursting with books, charts and paper. The young gem was deeply surprised. He would've thought Gaster's study would be spotless. The man seemed to comport himself with care, why was his study in such disarray? This didn't seem to concern the head of the house as he strode over and at times on the papers on the floor as he seated himself behind his desk. A seat was open facing him on the other side of the table. Steven went to it, gingerly avoiding the paperwork as he progressed.

"Now then. I'm sure Ms. Dreemurr has told you about Human Souls and how we underfolk can use them to dissolve the gem barrier?" Gaster inquired. Steven merely nodded. He wanted this over as soon as possible. He did not want to be keeping secrets or having to be a confidant in this strange underground world. That was a role reserved for his family, in Beach City.

"Excellent. Now then, you are aware that seven souls is the necessary amount to dissolve the barrier. Your soul will be the last one needed to free us all." Gaster shrugged a bit, "but none of that is very important given that your family will dissolve the barrier for us regardless."

"What is important however is the ramifications of what would happen if you were captured and King Dreemurr is allowed access to all seven souls." Gaster began to look a bit grim, "I'm sure you are familiar with Gem Fusion, yes?"

Steven turned a shade whiter than normal. He did not like where this was going. Reluctantly the boy nodded and Gaster continued, "Then you know that the more partners there are in a gem fusion the more powerful the result, yes?"

Seven. No, Eight people in a single fusion. Sure, seven were humans but eight people was still a lot of people to be doing a fusion together. Alexandrite was the fusion between all three of the Gems. That fusion had been huge and very monstrous indeed. The idea of putting five more on top of that horrified Steven. Garnet would most likely go into a frenzy at the sight of it.

And that was when Steven realized just how bad it would get if Asgore got all seven souls and the gems found him like that. It'd be just like the Sugilite incident but multiplied by several thousand orders of magnitude. Gaster noted Steven's unspoken conclusion on to this matter, "And you now seem to understand just how dire the situation would get."

"So, we can't let Asgore get my soul." Gaster nodded as Steven nervously continued "No problem! I have Papyrus and Tori to help me and my Gem. Getting to the barrier will be easy."

Gaster snickered, "Oh dear, your optimism is quite refreshing." he purred, "But I'm sorry to inform you that the only point of access to the Barrier that lies ahead of us is behind the throne room. That will also be where your Family will be entering the underground from."

"Oh…" Steven deflated at that,

"Also, there's another weighty complication to this." Gaster pointed at Steven's belly, "Your Gem."

"The core of the Pink Menace." Gaster tried out the title for it's feel. It seemed agree with him from the wide smile that formed on his countenance, "Yes, news of your very presence will have driven the people of New home and the surrounding settlements in Hotland into a Gem-hating frenzy by now."

"What?! Why?" Steven was beginning to feel very much the hobbits from Lord of the Rings. Small and hopelessly inadequate for the task before them. Gaster again was savvy to the boy's apprehensions about his quest,

"It is because the Extermination war is still very much in the people's living memory. The underfolk are long lived and aren't quick to forget such an atrocity on their soil. Pity really. King Dreemurr's been playing on that and rallying everyone to be ready for a counter invasion of the Surface to repay them for their deeds."

If he didn't already feel hopeless, now he felt like the trek to the barrier was downright impossible. He was going to be hunted for being a human as well as a gem. Gaster wasn't done though,

"To make matters worse, if you were to be captured by King Dreemurr, you'd add a great deal more power to the fusion because you'll be bringing a real gem into the mix. I dare say, the king would most definitely have more than enough to wipe the whole world clean with all that power."

"So what do we do?!" Steven was shaking from this revelation. Gaster shook his head at him calmly,

"Simple, you allow Papyrus to capture transport you and Ms. Dreemurr to the Castle." Steven was dumbfounded. That sounded like a terrible idea. Asgore would immediately win! His jaw flopped open in disbelief and Gaster watched this bemused.

"Papyrus has already caught a human and is recognized by many as the most recent to do so." Gaster Explained, "He's always been seen as a extremely hardworking guardsmen. Only the personnel stationed at the Core could compare to him in vigilance and diligence really. Nobody would suspect him to be in on a ploy to subvert the campaign to dissolve the barrier."

"But… but…"Little Steven's lip was quivering from how distressed he was at the odds against them. Gaster however was still relatively cheerful looking which only seemed to unnerve Steven further as if the Doctor was in on some hidden agenda to deliver him to Asgore and have everything he predicted about the fusion come to pace, "I… I…"

"Did I mention that you would proceed unimpeded and in perfect safety right to King Dreemurr with nary a hindrance along the way?"

Steven had stars in his eyes at the thought of such a miraculous route to success. It seemed dream like to him. But Gaster had been on the level with him for everything so far, what's to say the royal scientist wouldn't give him the straight dope on this as well. To say Steven was sold on the idea doesn't properly convey how happy he was with it. The idea filled the kid with hope. Gaster nodded to the young gem,

"There is but one way this plan could be scuttled." Gaster grew serious, "And that is if you should reveal yourself openly as a Gem. Any Anti-Gem fighters from here to the Barrier will engage you and make endless attempts at your life. Human soul be damned, you'll be regarded as a Gem and an inherent enemy to the state. You will die."

And that filled poor hope-starved Steven with an immense amount of dread…

* * *

Papyrus was briefed on his role in the plan and so was Toriel. Gaster had seen to that. Sans was tasked with scouting on ahead of them. The stocky skeleton had explained that he was using up all of his vacation days for this year in one go. Papyrus had been ever so pleased with the idea… in so far as getting Steven home and avoiding the vast majority of Toriel's considerable maternal wrath.

The motherly matriarch was no fool. She was fully aware of Steven's predicament. Just as she had done at the Dreemurr manor the last time Steven was about to embark into dangerous territory she set about making preparations to protect him. Of course she wasn't about to craft a suit of armor for him. The goat lady had admitted that she hadn't been very good at metallurgy much to Steven's relief.

She had however called in a favor from a nearby village that she had seemingly helped established several years ago.

"Hoi! Tem Here wit Bootiful Armor!" chimed the odd feline dog chimera creature standing in the living room. A few more of the strange things accompanied it and were hefting a rather large box. THe cadre of cats shouted similar things in greeting. Toriel whispered to something,

"Whatever you do, do not say a word." Steven tensed and frowned at her but she stepped forward and didn't notice his reaction.

"Howdy Temmie! Thank you so much for bringing it here so quickly!" Temmie? Steven thought to himself. Isn't that a human name?

"Tem fast dilibery no probs. U gots da goods 4 Tems?" Toriel held her smile and composure but Steven noted a sense of tension from her. It was like she was walking towards a mountain of manure and was trying not to make a face at it. The queen reached into her coat and pulled out a black plaque.

"Of course, I trust you've been studying." "TEMS git gud on grades!" With that Toriel handed the creature the plaque,

"Then I declare that Temmie of Temmie village a Royal Scholar and thus exempt from the charges required upon admission into an institution of higher education. This I say as Queen Toriel Dreemurr of the Kingdom of the Underground." Steven nodded. When she used that tone she did sound official enough to stop being the doting mother she usually presented herself as. Gaster step forward then from the hallway,

"As a vassal under King Dreemurr I bear witness to this as does my house. The Noble house of Gaster approves and supports this." The old skeleton smiled, "I hope this fills you with chuckles good Temmie."

"Hoi! Hoi chucks filled! Much chucks!" As if this was some agreed upon signal the non-speaking members of the party of apparently temmies pried open the box they'd brought with them.

"Colleg do tings to Tems. Super Tems Armor made from mad Researhes! Gud stuff!" Inside was a single solitary medal. The medal was the size of a Steven's fist and it had Rainbow ribbons hanging off of it. The Medal itself was in shape of Temmie's face with a star design where her cheeks would be. One of the mute temmies was kind enough to present it to Toriel.

"Uh… I thought you said this was to be armor?" Toriel remarked as she looked at the teeny medal. The Temmies replied with a unanimous hearty "HOI!"

"Ms. Dreemurr, I think it should be obvious why this is adequate armor." Gaster interjected politely, "Steven will be under siege not from weapons but magic. I believe our Good Temmie has gifted us with a sort of Magic Dampening device, if I'm correct."

The doctor's question was met with a chorus of predictably, "Hoi!" Steven read that a rousing affirmative.

And so to much anticlimax, the Temmie armor was pinned onto Steven's shirt. He studied the almost insignificant bit of metal and fabric and hoped that it would do it's job. He considered having one of the underfolk around him to shoot some magic his way to test the bauble… but then thought against it. He wasn't sure what a Dampener did but he was thinking on the lines of: "makes magic turn into water and splatter harmlessly on stuff. Water in large amounts has a tendency not to go well with interior decorating.

"I feel safer already." Steven droned unconvinced.

* * *

"FRIENDS! IT IS DONE!" Papyrus announced happily as he strode in from the cold, "MY REPORT HAS REACHED THE KING AND WE ARE TO PROCEED TO HIM!"

This was the part Steven wasn't going to enjoy. He pouted somewhat as he went to fetch what he needed. He pulled on the layers of clothing necessary to make the trek out to New Home. Toriel did very much the same but unlike Steven, she kept her bag. Papyrus had Steven's bag and he'd explained why this was so,

"PRISONERS DO NOT KEEP THEIR THINGS. ALL POSSESSIONS ARE CONFISCATED, NO EXCEPTIONS. I'M VERY SORRY ABOUT THIS. THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL CARE FOR YOUR BELONGINGS WITH THE UTMOST GENTILITY!" and thus Steven was stripped of his food, map and other survival items.

Sans for his part was decked out in a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops with a pair of sunglasses over his eyeless sockets. "gotta look the part. 'sides i've been due for a break. catch you guys later in metaton resort. heard it's the hottest place next to the core." He said all this as he flopped onto the couch and made himself comfortable. His tone belied an intent to be ahead of them but… his actions seemed in-congruent to Steven. The now confused gem decided to not think too hard on it. Sans had overtaken then the night before with a tea set and table through a storm. Steven was willing to believe the sentry could do whatever he pleased and still be where he wanted… somehow.

Gaster was very insistent that he stay behind. The old skeleton put it thusly:

"My replacement will be with you shortly. She's a lovely lass but mind her well or you'll find out why I dare not set foot into the near Hotland" What he meant by that, Steven assumed some sort of conjugal hiccup but was too polite to ask about it. His father had always said he'd explain when he was older. He hoped Greg would do so in earnest, because Steven was encountering situations that required that knowledge more and more.

The preparations set the party made to leave Snowdin territory. They pulled on their shoes, boots and such and buckled or laced them tight.

"Thank heavens Papyrus took care of the paperwork before hand," Toriel remarked, "Sitting in some holding cell at the Guardsmen outpost does not strike me as a good time."

"NONSENSE!" Papyrus exclaimed, "THE KING HAS SET UP ROYAL RESIDENCES ALL THROUGHOUT THE KINGDOM. YOU'D BE CONFINED IN ONE SUCH DWELLING UNTIL THE ORDER COMES IN TO BRING YOU TO HIM!" Somehow the cheery tone did nothing to make up for how horrid the situation sounded. Toriel sniffed at the idea irritably.

"So, what happens now?" Steven said as they approached the door to leave. Papyrus flinched at the sight of Steven at the door and he anxiously approached the boy.

"OH UH…." He stumbled over himself as he got to Steven, "I HAVE TO TIE YOU UP NOW…"

From Sans Steven could hear him whisper, "oh gee, now pap's completely boned."

Toriel gave Papyrus a look that spoke volumes of her. The dangerous shine in her eyes looked to Papyrus like that of a knife's edge about to plunge itself into him. Ignoring that knives would be utterly useless against a skeleton, the idea of being savaged by an angry boss monster made the poor guardsman shiver.

Thankfully his training held and Papyrus got some rope together and quickly bound up Steven. He made absolutely sure that the young gem wasn't in any ways discomforted. Steven could related to Papyrus. In a way he saw himself attempting to sort out how to do something that didn't displease one of the gems.

"Don't worry Papyrus. I believe in you. Just do your job well!" He encouraged with a smile. The Skeleton had been on the receiving end of Toriel's death stares for so long it would be a miracle if the guardsman didn't have post traumatic stress disorder once this was all done. He was so shell-shocked from the bombshell that was Toriel.

One Steven looked the part of a subdued human the three of them left the Gaster residence. There wasn't much fanfare aside from Sans tooting out the first few bars of a funeral dirge on his trombone. Gaster silently saluted them.

"Thank you very much for you everything. I hope we will come back soon to celebrate our success!" Toriel bid the two of them as she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

* * *

The snow from the previous night's storm was soft and undisturbed as the trio started their journey towards the Waterfall district. They followed the main road leading out of Snowdin to Hotland. It was a well used road carved through the forest through many long years. Signage was plentiful and informative. Steven learnt quickly that distance was measured quite differently down in the underground. They used some strange unit of measurement written as Km instead of miles. It was quite surreal to see.

Steven did find it very reassuring to see the familiar sight of telephone poles. However these poles did not hold up power lines as they did in the surface. They bore light sources and were the posts on which signs were attached to. Some of these poles were attached to small huts like the one Sans had been stationed in. The set up on each of those structures had been much the same. Sometimes these huts were conjoined with a more primitive structure that hosted a roadside stall. The guards in these situations were by far more alert and seemed more enthused to do their jobs.

Throughout their journey into the waterfall district they encountered passing Royal Guardsmen. Most of them were tired souls in need of a good rest after a long night's watch. Some were simply patrolmen doing their duty on the road in varying conditions. It was however quite uniform that most of them were dog-persons.

Steven wondered why this was so for quite some time. Why dogs? He chose to ask when he wasn't immediately in the sight of any guardsmen,

"Papyrus, why are all the guards that we've seen dog people?" To this Papyrus shrugged. Toriel however had an insightful answer,

"It's because back in the days of the extermination war, a lot of militia were set up in the area. These militia found that in the dark, snowy conditions, the dogs' natural white fur was perfect camouflage and insulation. Since then dog-people have served faithfully in this roles with zeal and pride. However it should be said that any underfolk that are mostly white, silent moving and cold resistant do well in the Snowdin branch." Toriel expositionally assided.

"Oh, so they're puppy ninja?" Both underfolk thought about it first and then sort of nodded.

"WE ARE QUITE STEALTHY NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT." Papyrus agreed out loud, "BUT I'M NOT COLD RESISTANT, THAT'S MY WARM AND SUNNY DISPOSITION TALKING!"

"Oh oh, what a hot topic to talk about!" Toriel followed up as she saw her chance at a joke. Steven not one to be out done spoke up,

"What you guys certainly have the Temperament for this!" Papyrus groaned at the punomenon unfolding around him.

"YOU GUYS ARE JUST AS BAD AS SANS!" He spat, "YOU'RE REALLY GETTING ME HEATED!"

"My my, Don't get so burned up about this!" Toriel teased to which Papyrus grimaced fiercely.

"NO! STOP THIS! A GUARD COULD COME BY AT ANY MOMENT! WE CAN'T BE MERRY PRISONERS!" That argument was enough to silence the both of them as they continued their walking.

"Okay Papyrus, we Sear what you are talking about." Steven joked one last time and Papyrus shook his head at the child.

As they approached the Waterfalls area the temperature did indeed start to get more and more bearable. While it was still chilly and snow was still quite intact, some of the layers had to go. Steven hadn't that luxury and deeply envied Toriel as she stripped off her coat to reveal just the dress she wore. He wasn't immediately burning up but he did want to take off one layer at least. He was sporting at least 4 layers and wasn't feeling so happy about it.

"WE WILL STOP AT THE WATERFALL CHECKPOINT TO RENDEZVOUS WITH MY BROTHER AND ADJUST OUR ATTIRE." Papyrus assured Steven as when he'd spotted the boy's displeasure. It was more out of mercy than anything else. It wasn't as if he were under duress from some mother monster after all.

The waterfall district lived up to it's name. Steven was immediately stunned at the sight of the falls and just how many there were. Here the rock layer contained several shining crystals. Steven wondered if they were inert gems of some sort. He figured that that wasn't the case as they'd probably look different or have emerged already or something.

They did look like stars when they appeared on the ceiling. It added a nice backdrop to the falls.

"Steven, look at the colors and lights! These weren't here the last time I passed through!" Toriel excitedly spoke as she pointed at the changing colors of the falls. It looked beautiful and gave them a relief from the monochromatic glare of streetlights in the otherwise bleak and dark surroundings of the underground. Sure it was only the water that glowed like liquid rainbows and the rocks themselves were still midnight black or some brighter shade of navy blue, but the colors were definitely welcome.

The checkpoint turned out to be something of a tourist reception area. Imagine the sort of infrastructure in place at Niagara falls or some historical landmark and that's what's around the Waterfall district's entrance and checkpoint. It was a far cry from Snowdin town's facilities but you had vendors and historical exhibits open with staffers running about handling patrons.

This also meant that the trio had to proceed in grim silence despite the otherwise light and happy tones that surrounded people viewing the beautiful falls. Steven and Toriel were still prisoners. Steven wasn't about to blow cover over some shiny water. Toriel wasn't about to let something happen to Steven and thus kept to her cover.

For Toriel it was harder to do so as she was the queen of the underground. Apparently Asgore had been a very busy bee with his time and resources.

"There's a statue of me." Toriel gasped as she spotted her likeness as the centerpiece of a fountain in the middle of a square. Said statue depicted the royal family as a whole or at least that's what Steven assumed from the crowns. King Asgore looked like a more angular version of Toriel. Her features were rounded where his were straighter and sharper. He also had a bit more thickness to many of of his proportions such as his arms and legs. There was also the matter of the large imposing horns. Statue Asgore stood gallant and strong with his majestic trident held aloft with a gentle but firm expression on the monarch's face as he drew Toriel's form close. His gaze was away from the two other forms in the statuary and he looked ready to defend them.

Toriel's statue was a younger more at ease version of herself with some artistic liberties taken. It wasn't as if statue Toriel was more risque. Small details were definitely off or in some cases invented. A clear sign that Toriel hadn't been present to model for the piece. She was in an elegant dress that highlighted her figure but didn't reduce her to something akin to a sex symbol. From the way it looked to Steven the features were all wrong and he didn't understand the appeal of showing such curvy bits of Toriel. The statue depicted her with a warm smile with her hand and loving her gaze on the last statue.

Between them was a new face. Steven was struck deeply by this third figure. It answered a very large question that he'd become aware of shortly before Toriel and him and started this journey. A plaque at the foot of the statues told him that this was Asriel Dreemurr, prince of the Underground and heir apparent to the throne.

He looked like a child version of Asgore but with more feminine features to Asgore's rather harsh countenance. There was a sense of honesty and innocence to the young prince's features. He wasn't decked out in some fancy regalia. He was wearing a simple buttoned up shirt with a sweater vest over it. There was a pendant around his neck with the Delta rune on it which the boy clutched whilst still exposing the rune. In his other hand was the crown of his father, identical to the one on statue Asgore's. The child's grip was light but strong. Asriel's eyes were cast skyward with his lips just parting in an expression of awe and ardent hope for the future.

Steven nodded at the statue. A question answered. Toriel didn't make any mention of her son or Asgore after that. She bore nothing but mourning on her features. She looked in quite the dreadful state.

The trio stopped behind the nearby guard outpost here. The guards on duty had received Papyrus with many hurrahs and a few dog treats eagerly passed around. Away from the prying eyes of the public Papyrus made sure to give the human some semblance of privacy to ready himself for the waterfall district's vastly different climate.

"HUMAN," Papyrus snapped at him in the official guardsmen tone, "I WILL UNTIE YOU AND YOU WILL ADJUST YOUR ATTIRE AND NOTHING ELSE."

"NOW NOW, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE! I WILL BE FORCED TO USE THE GUARDSMEN SPECIAL ATTACK SHOULD YOU DO SO." As if to punctuate that statement a cry rang out from the crowd. All eyes spun around to see a fish person in distress as a brawny looking thug ran off with what appeared to be her notebook.

Papyrus sprang into action. Abandoning the rope that held Steven he leapt from where he was standing into the crowd.

"HALT IN THE NAME OF THE ROYAL GUARD!" The criminal did nothing of the sort and only intensified his attempt at escaping the scene. "HALT OR YOU SHALL BE HALTED!"

Once again Papyrus was ignored. This time the skeleton man did not issue another warning. With a snap of his fingers the air rang out as magical energy coursed through the air. Sky blue chains of energy sprang out from the ground around the criminal and entangled the fool's lower extremities. Soon the energy bled into the criminal and his whole body was root in place by what seemed to be extreme gravity. The thug soon collapsed onto the ground before papyrus dismissed his spell.

"NYEHEHEH! A FAIR ATTEMPT BUT NOBODY ESCAPES THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" Steven for once had to agree. That was pretty cool. He just stopped that bad guy in his tracks, literally! It was like Batman and the bat-bola things but with magic and chains and stuff. Sure he lived with magic alien gems that did cool stuff but seeing someone go super hero right there with the whole nine yards of heroic restraint and stuff was freaking awesome. At least it all seemed that way to Steven. A lifetime of comic books and anime will do that to you.

After Papyrus returned to them the ropes were undone. Steven happily obeyed Papyrus' commands. Cool air washed over his hot and sweaty arms as he reveled in the sensation of the air passing over him freely. The warm clothes were passed back into Steven's backpack by order of Toriel. Papyrus acquiesced.

* * *

Day 18

Word count: 26980 total (5563 today)

So many things in this chapter! Some reveals on Asgore's plan in this crossover verse, a bit on the trials Steven will have to face getting to Asgore, a very biblical demand to not do something, a rather okay plan to get Steven to Asgore without dying, the story's now out of Snowdin, some backstory on the region, some backstory into the dreemurr family which seems untouched by the cross over, Papyrus gets to show off some of his neat guardsmen magic and we have the Temmie armor.

Yes I included Papyrus' Blue Attack solely to show it off and to flesh out the world a bit. See, Most security forces in whatever city of the underground have the Blue Gravity Spell handy. If Steven could've flown, he'd have just jumped through a hole in the ceiling to get home. Needless to say the security forces of old home would've gravity'd the daylights out of him... and any human trying to escape like that. These are monsters attempting to escape the underground, they'd be a bit salty to see one of their tickets to freedom doing so.

Also, Do you guys like the term Underfolk? Culturally it makes little sense for the people of the underground to use a negative term to refer to themselves. So "monster" would be right out. it's sort of like the WW2 Germans were with the Aryan race in their own terminology at the time. Nazi's were still seen as simply revolutionary persons. It's only because they lost the war that such terms became inherently negative due to historical context. If they'd won, they probably would be held up as paragons, but that's highly controversial. I apologize if I offend anyone with this tangent.

Anyways. I hope I've set up enough foreshadowing and stuff to tie me through the rest of the story. I intend to end the tale around 50,000 words proper. If I don't well I don't mind going a bit over.


	9. Chapter 9 That One Boss

A/N: 5k per day is freaking tough. Thankfully I did enough today to mostly catch up with the recommended wordcount for today! 667 or so less but I'll take what I can get.

This is also the only chapter that doesn't have a page break somewhere in the text. So let's get this ball rolling and get us some progress into the story!

* * *

Apparently Papyrus was a well known celebrity. Gaster had made some small mention of this to Steven but the true magnitude of Papyrus' renown was something to behold. It was very clearly seen on the posters that featured his likeness. Think of an old World War 1 recruitment poster and you have some vague idea of what it looked like.

"IF PAPYRUS COULD DO IT! YOU CAN TOO! JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!" The caption surrounded two versions of Papyrus. The struggling untrained recruit in a get much like Sans' uniform and the present day Papyrus effortlessly taking down criminals. Both shots seemed highly plausible. It wasn't too long ago that Steven was a complete dunce at summoning his shield or producing bubbles and what not.

The Guardsmen on duty that were green and fresh tended to be really fussy about their salutes and treatment of Papyrus. Steven got to see this close up. While the boy had to temper his reactions to play the part of a captured prisoner, he couldn't hide his curiosity very much.

"AT EASE!" Papyrus would dismiss in his normal tone, "I AM GREAT BUT PLEASE TELL THE REST OF THE RECRUITS TO RELAX. WE CAN'T BE THROWING UP SALUTES ALL DAY LONG. HOW WILL YOU CATCH CRIMINALS WITH A SORE ARM!"

That had been the first of many statements to newbie guardsmen. Another had been,

"DISMISSED, CONTINUE TRAINING AND YOU WILL ONE DAY APPROACH THE WONDER THAT IS PAPYRUS!" This one Papyrus puffed himself up and tried to look a bit more than he was. The tone he used and so on came off as comical and unrealistic. The recruited tended to go red in the face in their efforts to stifle a wave of giggles at their superior's gaffe.

What really interested Steven was the change in how Papyrus carried himself. The hardworking skeleton had been serious about his work when he'd apprehended him. He'd been very diligent and loving to his parents. Here was yet another Papyrus but not the Papyrus he was acting out. Here was a Papyrus formed out of the hopes and dreams of the people. A Truly Great Papyrus and absolutely larger than life.

It was a stark contrast to Steven's experience with the Crystal Gems. Nobody had ever lauded them as heroes. They saved the day regularly but usually in far off places where corrupt gems were out of control and causing a disturbance. The Gems mostly kept to themselves and Steven wasn't much of a gem on his own so there was there. The one time they did save the day, they'd almost brought the whole world to and end minute before! They'd wrecked all of Beach City in the fallout and there was a great hubbub about how safe the Gems were to mankind!

And here was Papyrus walking around being appraised by all around him as a hero. Bringer of the final child. Poster boy of the Royal Guard. The Queens Retriever.

Steven truly wondered why this was so. Why Papyrus and not the Gems back home.

"YOU!" came the visceral roar from behind them as they passed what looked to be a garrison. The trio looked to the tall structure anxiously and all for the same reason. Standing in the arch formed between two towers was a tall and imposing knight wielding a halberd. The armor was quite divergent from Papyrus'. Where Papyrus' armor seemed quite made of several plates that folded over one another, this knight's armor was composed of single hard plates. It was more heavily mechanization with pipes and metal support arms jutting out of the armor in a frame.

Did we mention that the Halberd was glowing? Because it was giving off a dangerously volatile blue light that streamed and sparked as if it were a hot iron. Arcs of energy flared around it as if the air itself was being split from the power it held. Steven was immediately reminded of Pearl's energy blasts from her spear and he hoped that wasn't the case.

"TRAITOR!" The knight charged. Civilians in the area shrieked in panic as they ran from the armored soldier. Papyrus spared this combatant no warning as he focused on the knight and snapped his fingers with stern intention. Strangely the spell he'd let loose found no purchase as the blue chains simply came undone as they neared the oncoming enemy.

"OH DEAR…" Summoning a few pillars of bones from the ground he sought to delay the knight but obfuscating an obvious route to him. "GET BEHIND ME NOW!"

Steven and Toriel were quick to do so. Steven wished he could used his shield and Toriel for her part wasn't very happy about needing to keep up her prisoner routine. There was still a way they could get out of this. Maybe the knight was mistaken. Maybe it was an old rival of Papyrus come to exact some revenge for being passed over. Maybe it was something, something that could bail them out of this.

All of these thoughts were cast to the winds the moment the halberd's axe blade tore through several pillars of spell-worked bone. The ambient energy and forms crumbled into fine dust as they broke. Papyrus paled at the knight that now stood within striking distance of him. Seeing very little option the skeleton sentry reached out to his sides and willed his trump cards into existence,

"STAND DOWN!" He demanded as two enormous jackal skulls appeared next to him. Unearthly pale light danced where eyes should've been whilst heat radiated outward from the lights making the air hazy and distorted around the skulls. The queen and Steven gawked at the two devices and wondered just what they were dealing with.

THe Civilians around them were now being driven back by other royal guardsmen. Steven spied a few of the dog-men running with wide eyes and their ears back. The guardsmen seemed more wary of the skulls than the halberd wielding assailant.

"Did I not train you better?!" Spat the halberd holder with venom to the words. "Have you forgotten the oath you took? Have you, you traitor!"

"YOU… I…" Papyrus faltered as he stared down at his opponent. "STAND DOWN AND-AND WE'LL CALMLY LEAVE NOW."

"LEAVE?! You're not going ANYWHERE!" A sickly green light that now eclipsed the shine of the halberd erupted from the helm of the knight. Papyrus was horrified and he immediately willed his Skull Cannons back to the void they came from. He turned to Steven and Toriel,

"RUN!" He cried out but it was far too late for that. Like a river after a rainstorm it came. A sinuous and living torrent of flowing energy the color of algae. It swam over the floor towards the trio. They had taken only a step as the tumultuous waves of green magic crashed into the path that lay ahead of them. No sooner had the energy pooled there did it rise up into a maelstrom! Bits of stone and water were caught up in the spell and they whirled around in the air fast enough to whistle and cause even more wind to blow them all backwards into a pile.

"Did you think you could leave a senior officer without being dismissed?!" The warrior now removed their helmet. Short red hair done in a buzz cut greeted them as a long oval face sneered back at their recovering selves. Blue scales that shone in the light of her weapon curved as a smile that reached her golden eyes crept up her face,

"UNDYNE, PLEASE." Papyrus pleaded, "THIS IS FOR THE GOOD OF THE KINGDOM! WE MUST BE LET THROUGH OR WE'LL"

"HAH!" The fish fighter slung a bolt of her spear to silence him and to punctuate the start of her retort. "Lies! Did you really think the Gems would be entering into our keep so easily! Are you so foolish as to believe your crazy father's ramblings just like that?"

"UN…" "WRONG! The words of an old senile man gone mad from the years of studying folktales and myths. Your precious halfie won't be calling off his so called family, he'll be giving our location to his superiors! He will end us."

"No, No, I wouldn't!" Steven protested from his spot behind Papyrus, "I wouldn't do that!" He said louder with his voice cracking from how scared he was.

"You betray yourself with your own words. Typical of a soldier far from friendly territory to make empty platitudes." She began to march towards them her eyes on Papyrus, "Soldier, form up. Follow my command or be relieved."

"NO!" Papyrus objected as he called out the same skull cannons from before, "PAPYRUS OF THE ROYAL GUARD, SNOWDIN BRANCH WOULD LIKE TO ENGAGE IN INSUBORDINATION!"

And with that the plan Gaster had concocted evaporated. "Tori, Get these ropes off me! I gotta help Papyrus!"

With a small gout of flame the ropes were incinerated off and Steven bounded to help his friend. As the young gem charged forward she too turned but towards the storm raging behind them. Taking a breath she began her work.

Steven on the other hand had his shield ready as he came to Papyrus. "HUMAN?!"

"I can't let you get torn up because of me without helping you. Tori should be coming to-" He noted her absence but shrugged it off. There was a mad fish lady in front of them trying to make kebabs out of the two of them. That was a great deal more important, "I can block whatever she sends you way."

"HMM! EXCELLENT!" And thus Papyrus and Steven began their work. With a wave of his hands the skeleton sent forth waves of bone bullets at Undyne all the while firing off beams from the skulls beside him.

The fish person wasn't one to disappointed. Twirling her halberd like some colorguard performer she swatted aside the bones coming her way and seemingly parried the beams as she angled her way around them. To say that the boys were dreadfully surprised by this was something. They go to moving with Steven leading Papyrus who took his time in varying his shots.

Undyne, a trained lady of war wasn't just on the defensive. Between her impression of Bruce Lee with a staff she was sending precised bolts at them. Steven and Papyrus were hard pressed to defend properly as the wretched attacks would miss them only bounce off the green swirling field back at them! All the while Steven leapt and angled his shield to intercept them. He was glad Garnet had taken to training him periodically because he would've been skewered several times over by now. Papyrus would probably have a lot more holes in that skull of his as well.

"Siding with a Gem! You truly are a disgrace to our people!" She spat at them all the while dodging and dishing out death, "Gems, who slaughtered children, husbands, wives, FAMILIES!"

With another flash of viridian light the battle changed. Now the flow of the spell around them sought to push them around within it's bounds. Steven felt the rush of energy on his shield. It felt like a hurricane bashing against him. He was thrown into Papyrus and the two of them collapsed to the ground. Bolts whizzed over them as they flew to where their heads had been.

Undyne halted her approach. She willed Steven's form off of Papyrus. Lying prone the Skeleton struggled against the forces pressing him down onto his belly. Steven watched her stand over him with anger clear on her features. This fish was about to fry someone.

"Papyrus, as your commanding officer and commander of the Underground Military Services it is my duty to strike you from the records." She shifted her grip on the Halberd with her hands holding the shaft and the blunt of the blade. She was going to drive the blade down like a guillotine on Papyrus. The Skeleton struggled against the green force keeping him pinned but to no avail.

"You are officially relieved of duty." And the blade went down.

before clanging on the surface of Steven's Shield! The oversized discus caught the blade as it fell before plowing into Undyne's chest. The unsuspecting warrior gasped as the attack knocked her back and forced her to let go to her weapon. The halberd's blade went dark as soon as the weapon left the scaly knights hands . The flat of the pole arm collided harmlessly off of Papyrus before clattering on the ground. Papyrus didn't have a wound on him as he stared down at the blade that had been about to give him a heads up on the afterlife.

Undyne was seething as she got up. Her ambient spell got the Halberd back into her grasp as he stalked over to Steven. The boy wisely conjured his shield bubble but Undyne's rage would not be so easily thwarted. She changed her grip on the weapon so that her hands were at the halfway and furthest points from the blade before bringing the blade up above her head.

Steven gaped at the weapon's ascent. He tracked with his eyes as his body shook at the sight of it's apex. It was like an angry star. Thoughts of the dinosaurs going extinct popped into his head. This must have been what they witnessed just before the meteor that took them out impacted. A very large star amidst thousands coming down to Earth, right at him.

"I'm sorry everyone, I couldn't make it home… I love you all so much." he croaked as he closed his eyes and waited for the end.

"Leave them be!" Commanded Toriel as a burst of flame shrieked a path right next to where Undyne was standing. Although Toriel was breathing heavily she was upright and triumphant. She wiped the sweat from her brow as Undyne turned to face her,

"You, You undid my spell!" "Yes and I can and will do it again. I am Toriel Dreemurr and you are subordinate to me. Now leave them alone."

"Heh, I don't remember you in the oath." She directed her weapon to Toriel, "Stay right there queenie, and let your trusty anti-gem specialist do her job." she mockingly grinned right at Toriel. The female monarch was not going to have that. She was too old to be taking sass from some upstart fish hussie with an attitude problem.

"You are being rude and impudent. Someone ought to teach you some manners young lady." Toriel raised her hand at Undyne with her thumb and index fingers extended. Undyne flinched and readied herself. Steven stared up at Undyne and wondered if the warrior could face this queen of the underfolk. He looked up just in time to see Papyrus,

Landing a wicked haymaker into Undyne's exposed head.

Needless to say the Fish person crumpled to the ground without a sound. Her weapon fell next to her with it's glow extinguished. The armor's modifications worked to keep her from landing in a way that would harm her. Papyrus looked down at his handiwork and confirmed that she was still breathing before rushing to Steven.

"HUMAN! ARE YOU HURT?" Steven dismissed his bubble and shakily got to his feet with the help of Papyrus,

"No no, I'm good." He looked at Undyne and frowned. The crazy sea dweller had been about to turn them into sashimi! He wasn't immediately sorry she now lay on the ground unconscious but he probably would be as soon as he calmed down from being inches from death. Papyrus spared him little time as the skeleton turned the boy and nudged him towards Toriel.

"NO TIME TO LOOSE! GO GO GO!" Steven found his legs under him and began hurrying to Toriel with Papyrus taking up the rear. If Steven had looked back he would've found that the Royal Guard had mobilized itself in retrieving Undyne and pursuing Steven in force. Thankfully he didn't because he would've probably freaked out bad enough to stop him from moving.

"I'll cover our retreat, just get moving." She ushered them to follow the road leading further into the Waterfall district. As they passed her she closed her eyes and put her hands together. Her brow grow knotted and marred with lines before she snapped her eyes open and thrust her arms out.

Fire like a wall formed before her. She nodded at her handiwork before turning to join the boys fleeing before them. Over the sound of her flames burning she could hear the guardsmen calling for water. They would not be safe for long. She caught up to the boys in no time with her longer stride.

Papyrus had opted to simply heft Steven on his shoulders as he ran. The added weight slowed him but it wasn't anything compared to his regular training activities. One didn't become a royal guardsman without giving Ice wolf a run for his money chucking ice. And one didn't become a frontline commander of the Home United Military Assault Neutralizers through desk work and baking pies.

"oi, this way!" The trio look up to see none other than Sans standing a little ways off the road, "quick before they get through!" he beckoned them to follow as he disappeared around a rock formation. The group eagerly made to follow as the howls of the Canines behind them sounded.

"You have my thanks Sans." Toriel gasped as she pulled herself around the rock formation.

"don't thank me yet. those guys are going to be doggedly on your tails until you get to hotland."

"SANS IS IT REALLY TIME FOR SUCH THINGS!" Papyrus scolded, "THEY ARE LOPING DOWN THE TRAIL FOR US NOW!"

"can -i-N you get something straight about escaping?" Sans japed as he pointed to the cave the lay just within sight along the cliffs that stood before them. They were going to have to continue along an overhang to get to it. All three of them looked doubtful at the prospect of escape through this route, "relax the cave leads to a river that'll pull us to the reservoir next to the entrance to hotland. we'll be fine!"

With that little bit of reassurance that gang began shimmying over to the cave. As they neared the mouth of it they could hear the Guards closing in on their location from the sounds of their scampering over the hard cold ground. When they go in the cave a lone scout popped his head around the rock formation.

"Oh please don't-" Steven was cut off as the scout howled out a cry for reinforcements as it began an attempt at the overhang. It's digitigrade anatomy hindering it severely as it tried to keep moving without falling off overhang.

"HURRY HURRY! THE REST WILL BE HERE SOON!" Papyrus didn't have to warn them twice as the group made their way into the cave and the safety it promised.

The cave lead them to what appeared to be a an old tourist route. Small plaques could be found here and there with the history of the waterfall district and the surrounding regions. Abandoned facilities were strewn here and there with curious blue flowers growing on everything in a creeping ivy. The underfolk avoided it like the plague.

"What's up guys?" He asked once he noticed just how skittish they were about the flowers.

"They are echo flowers." Toriel explained with traces of her discomfort evident in her face, "They have the innate ability to mimic anything said to them. How they do this is through a unique mechanism involving their petals and special sacs at their center. The petals read the wind patterns of the words spoken to them and then reform them crudely whilst the sacs in their center burst causing air to move through the petals."

"They're rumored to be bad luck and most underfolk find them creepy for their ability to form rudimentary lips. Also the little crystal growing at their center reminds us too much of Gems. These must be from a patch the landscapers in the area missed."

"FATHER TOLD US TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM AS CHILDREN! SAID SOMETHING ABOUT HAVING OUR VOICES STOLEN." Papyrus recalled to which Sans shook his head,

"he only said that because someone would argue with them until they went hoarse or start crying in frustration." Papyrus huffed at the remark,

"THAT CAN'T HAVE BEEN ME. I DON'T REMEMBER DOING ANY SUCH THING." "hehehe, pap you were just a kid then. much younger than steven. course you don't remember a thing, you could barely get solid food down at the time."

"QUIET! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU EMBARRASSING ME IN FRONT OF THE QUEEN AND THE HUMAN!" It was far too late for that. Both Steven and Toriel were giggling fiercely at him. Poor Papyrus could only cover his face and hide his blush as he could as they pressed onwards.

The tourist road opened up eventually to a breathtaking view of What Steven assumed was New Home. It looked like the picturesque fantasy city you'd expect on the cover of some paperback fantasy novel alright. Big tall white castle, blue roofs on the parapets, high walls with towers every so often and a large expansive town surrounding it. If he squinted hard Steven could make out what looked like a drawbridge and the castle's streamers.

"Is that?" "NEW HOME! AH THE SIGHT OF IT FILLS ME WITH PRIDE!" "yes tori, it is."

Toriel stopped to admire the sight as a tear formed in her eyes, "I haven't seen the city from this angle not since…"

"Not since Asriel died." Steven finished for her. The Boss Monster froze at those words, "Tori, I saw the statue and your son on it. I know what it's like to not have someone you love." He gripped his gemstone and continued, "But you gotta deal with it. You gotta for the people around you and for yourself. I don't want you running off after all this is done to be sad about your son."

"Steven." Toriel gasped but Steven wasn't finished,

"I'm sure Asgore's also upset about losing him. I'm not so good at talking about things like that and maybe he is too." Steven offered Toriel a weak smile, "So maybe you should give him another chance, even though he's done some terrible things. I'm sure he misses you a lot and it's probably been really hard having to not be with the one you love." That last part stabbed at Steven. He swallowed the hurt like he always did when thinking about his mother as he held the smile for Toriel. Someone needed him and he wasn't going to let his mom down by being too focused on himself to help them out!

"Right, yeah." Toriel consented but from the look in her eyes Steven could see her hesitance and bitter reluctance. He understood. The man had teed her off so long along and she was so used to hating his guts that to her it probably seemed impossible to reconcile with him. That sadness had turned to anger and then hatred until it had smoldered into resentment. Even the kindest of hearts have a dark side and this was Toriel's staring at him through her eyes.

And that was cool. You can't change other people. Steven knew that. People changed themselves. Forcing them does nothing. He'd learnt that through the last year especially. Sometimes people change for the worse but that didn't meant they couldn't change back or grow to use those new changes in a positive way.

Nothing, not even Gems themselves were set in stone.

* * *

Day 19

Word Count: 30934 total (3954 today)

I'm going to admit that Undyne isn't a character I like a lot. She's cool but a lot about her rubs me the wrong way. I think I'm a bit heavy handed with my characterization of her as this violent crude fish lady. It didn't seem to me that she had a great deal of care for pleasantries like manners in the game, aside from hospitality but even that's stretching it a bit.

I do like indulging in some backstory of my supporting characters. It helps fill up the word count and lets me paint the world more vividly. It also helps me reinforce stuff mentioned previously so as to not have things be informed stuff and start to seem more real and add more continuity and consistency to the world. Also, Toriel's grief over her son's death is not stated enough in the fandom. Mothers should never have to mourn their children. That's like the ultimate existential crisis for a person.

I'd like to think of Papyrus as a success story Try-hard. The bumbling Type-A personality that overcomes his quirks through force of will and dedication. Papyrus speaks to me because he really tries the heck out of things. He might fail but that doesn't stop him from simply dusting himself off and trying again. He's also so cheery about life which is super admirable given that he fails at cooking and being a royal guard in-game. Being a perpetual screw-up tends to chip away at your ability to be upbeat. Guy must have an iron will to keep being so optimistic. He stares down death and keep believing in goodness! Guy's got an enormous pair for a skeleton without living tissues.

I took some liberties with Undyne's magic and her equipment. You'll probably learn about them later on but I thought to give you a small taste of it here. I modeled parts of her armor on the Demonicas from SMT with a dash of Power Armor from Fallout. Look at me being relevant to today's gaming culture. Anyways it's meant to be a performance enhancing suit with a few additional things to it. I just wanted her to have a distinct armor from Papyrus to solidify her as an entirely different part of the military in the Underground.

Her spear becomes a halberd because of cultural reasons. I figured that since the Gems were able to so easily rout and take out the monsters that they'd up their military game a bit. Heavier weapons that do more damage, armor that's more durable, defenses that are better and so on. Take Isreal for example. It's a nation founded by a people who were literally scattered to the winds after the province of Judea in Roman territory was sacked and Rome fell. They've been subjected to extermination attempts and other atrocities such as the holocaust, the spanish inquisition and parts of the crusades. What does Isreal now have?

The best military in the middle east. Isreal can stomp any of the middle eastern countries to the curb if any of them tried something. It's a clear message: "We got screwed over before but never again, Come at me."

I could go on about neat little history factoids all day... but I apply that knowledge in writing this stuff. My writing style may suck, but you can't completely fault my research. Homework got done and Toriel and Pearl would be proud.


	10. Chapter 10 Cerebus Syndrome

A/N: (...)

* * *

The tourist path led them upwards. Stairs the likes of which Steven had never seen curled upwards in long merciless zags. The sight of them filled his legs with dread. Even the underfolk looked visibly daunted by the sheer number of them leading seemingly into the sky. It certainly seemed that way as they rose into the darkness above them.

"Tori, please tell me you can make a magic flying carpet." Steven asked grimly. Toriel grimaced and then shook her head.

"EVEN I THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST ADMIT, THAT'S A LOT OF STAIRS!" Papyrus exclaimed. He looked down to his brouther, "SANS, DO YOU HAVE A SHORTCUT UP TO THE TOP?"

"sorry bro, no shortcuts for us. we're just going to have to soldier our way up or the royal guard's going to take us out."

Steven despite himself felt like turning around and doing just that. He had his shield, Torie's magic, Papyrus' training and Sans' … pun-ches? He wasn't exactly sure what Sans could contribute to fighting their way out of there but he would when they got into combat. The skeleton couldn't be that bad at fighting, he was a royal guard sentry after all.

"It's too dangerous to go back." Toriel declared. "We should head up. I do not wish to engage with that knight once more."

"Then don't." The group snapped around to find none other than Undyne behind them.

"Did you think knocking me out would be enough?" Undyne spat at them, "Wrong! You should've taken me out when you had the change. I will not stop till every Gem on the Surface has been cut down by my spear!"

Just as before, a wave of green energy poured out of her. It snaked up the stairs and coursed down it like a river. There would be no climbing today. Once done Undyne focused back on the group.

"Your highness, I've been ordered to return you to the castle alive. The human too." Undyne growled at them, "But traitors are to be slaughtered on sight."

"I forbid any thought of unjust executions." Toriel exclaimed defiantly, "In fact I aim to remove Asgore from the throne myself!"

"HAH!" Undyne sneered at her, "Do you actually believe yourself strong enough to take on Asgore. A coward who runs when there's real work to be done. By all means Queenie, prove yourself to me that you're strong enough."

And that did it. Toriel narrowed her eyes at the fish lady. She dropped her bag on the ground and strut forward, "Boys, take care of my things."

Steven was sincerely excited. They were in a battle to secure their lives against a knight who had shrugged off Steven's and Papyrus' combined efforts to thwart her. It was going to be tough to get through her. On the other hand, it was going to be the first time he would get to see Toriel throw down. The last time he'd been so excited was when he'd seen Sardonyx dismantle the communication hub.

Steven wondered if he simply had a thing for watching giant women duke it out.

Toriel snapped her fingers and the green waves of energy around them vanished. She did this without breaking step as she approached Undyne. Her hands went down to her sides. She drew her elbows back and then tensed her hand as if she were going about to thrust them forward into a horse stance. Flames formed around her arms, licking at her dress. The silvery quality of them made it look like her fur itself was flame dancing about in the wind with an intensity rivaled only by her ire for the circumstances her kingdom was facing.

Undyne was taken aback that her spell had been so easily dealt with twice in a day. Then again the boss monster was coming at her so she figured that sending out another entrapment spell would not be in her favor. Thus there was only one thing to do,

"Eat spear!" Her halberd's edge and point glowed and from them came bolts of brilliant silver. Lots of silver bolts. Steven took a step to rush in and defend her but both Gaster brothers stopped him,

"HUMAN NO!" "kid, take a load off. tori'll be just fine." Steven looked at them with concern before looking ruefully at the situation. There were at least twelve different shots headed straight for her head! How was Toriel going to make it.

Simple, she shielded herself. A halo of flame danced around her head making her look like some heavenly host to all. Undyne stared at the sight as Toriel returned fire, literally.

"Under-estimate me at your own risk, my 'dear'." she quipped as her flames closed in. Undyne didn't move from her position. She protected her head and stood her ground.

The flames exploded as they crashed into her. The blasts knocked bits of the ground into the air leaving trails of smoke as the debris flew. Dust fell from the ceiling above and the walls around from the explosion. Steven was truly awed. That had been pretty cool. Shame that Undyne was gone but it was pretty-

-far from over. Bolts like before came flying out in a stream at Toriel. She strafed around Undyne as the bolts followed her. One such bolt got too close but Toriel caught it with the flames around her arms as if they were some sort of burning bracer. THe bolts that had missed their mark burst into dust as struck unintended targets.

Steven breahted a sigh as he watched the fight. That bolt had sent him into asmall panic until he realized that Toriel had blocked it. After almost killing her in her own kitchen from his shield he'd come to see her as frail out of concern for her. He was not getting the idea that he was dead wrong. Toriel was awesome.

"Careful my 'dear', if you keep this up you'll stretch your magic reserves too thin." Toriel had on a mocking smile at the soldier. Undyne answered with a rage filled spire from the ground. That gave Toriel pause as the monarch leapt back in surprise.

"I see you wish to de-feet me. But I can't allow that!" With a sharp wave of her hands a crescent front of flames shot forward. With another she launched another into the air to begin raining hell upon the fish. With no other real option the fish guard began to bob and weave aroung oncoming waves of doom. Each time she tried the flames would simply detonate close to her, obscuring her vision and thus leaving her open to subsequent hits.

It all seemed to be going very well until Undyne finally snapped.

"Enough of this, I don't care of Asgore's got a hankering for his honey. You're dead!" Leaping forward Undyne slashed at the flames with her halberd. The white flames parted before her effortlessly. With a roar she closed in on Toriel with the point ready to impale with a vengeance. Steven fought against the brothers once more as he watched with them.

"Such a terrible thing to say about an old lady." Toriel retorted and with a whirling gesture unleashed a veritable beam of whirling flames. It looked to Steven and the Gaster boys like she'd poured out a big white laser beam from nowhere. It certainly moved fast enough to look like it.

To Undyne it was like being tossed bodily into a vat of boiling oil. The air didn't so much as dance but grow dark except for the candescent glow of the fire. She had to close her eyes to avoid burning them but her face began to boil and her scales peeled right off. She howled and with her howl came agony. Her throat was seared instantly right down to her bronchioles.

And then the torment of fire stopped. Undyne, beaten, collapsed to the ground. She looked terrible. The great fish knight of Asgore was well done and extra crispy. The moment her body hit the ground she started crying at the pain. Her sobs were strange and airy as her vocal cords had been burnt beyond use and her respiratory tract itself was little more than charred scraps exchanging minute amounts of life-preserving gases.

"Oh dear, oh oh my. I-I got very carried away. I'm very sorry." She stammered out as she immediately went to collect the burnt warrior. Her features were wide in panic before tensing from horror and remorse. She began checking for vitals on the fish warrior, pulse, breathing and shook at how weak both life signs were...

The Gaster boys finally let Steven go as the trio ran to meet up with Toriel. Steven was now a great deal horrified. He'd just watched a person go from perfectly fine to nigh dead in a fraction of a second. She smelt profoundly of fish stew pizza which made him queasy in ways he hadn't been prepared to confront, about life and pizza.

"Oh no, what do we do?!" He cried as he got close to Undyne and could see the full extent of her wounds. Steven didn't have to be a doctor to know that this one was definitely not going to make it. How did they say it on TV? Please pronounce him. Time of death. The words seemed to hold more weight for Steven now that he was staring at a person dying. Atlas levels of weight to be specific.

From over the loudspeakers rigged around the tourist area they heard it. Loud and visceral came a wail: " AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGH!"

All four of them froze stock still at the sound of it. Undyne in her near death state convulsed at the sound of it. She'd already been crying from the pain but now the tears seemed to flow freely as the proud anti-gem specialist starred up to the starry sky. Her mouth acted out speech as the quartet of now fugitives looked on.

Steven read her lips, her final words: "I thought we'd be the drill that'd pierce the heavens! We… we were going to…be together…"

and with that Undyne left the world of men, gems and underfolk. As her eyes gently closed for one last time her body went pale. Her whole body began to feel like a statue from how the once pliable skin turned stone hard and cold. Her broken and beaten body began to crumble into dust. The underfolk looked positively grim as they saw her form break down. Steven couldn't immediately grasp the full of it but he wasn't feel too awesome about their victory.

And in the midst of it all, came a startling sight. Sparkling within the white mass of full dust was a tiny stone. It was heart shaped and looked very strange indeed. It wasn't some smooth rock in the shape of a heart. It was more like a bunch of rough diamonds fused together into the shape of a heart. it looked like broken glass from how scratched up and sharp some of the shapes were. He stared at it for a moment before it too turned to dust and joined the rest of the dead underfolk on the ground, inert.

"Sans, Papyrus. Please help me gather up her dust." Sans and Papyrus solemnly nodded as they set to work gathering Undyne's dust. Toriel looked to Steven, "Steven, Would you spread this blanket out over there."

The work went silently from there. None of them cared at this point if the rest of the royal guard contingent were on their way. Papyrus looked dead to the world, Sans was shaken to his core and Toriel had this look like she was a million miles away in another place and time. She went about her task with care regardless of her frame of mind.

Steven helped as best as he could. There'd been a small office close by. He'd broken in and pillaged it of a broom and dustpan. The Underfolk denied him use. This was not a time for such things. You didn't treat your dead as you did your garbage. The custodial equipment was returned and they went back to gathering up her dust with their hands.

When at long last the dust was properly collected within the blanket Toriel bounded it up and sealed it tight with a series of knots. She then arranged a sort of grave for the fallen guardswoman. Her armor was arrayed into a loose sitting position with the bundle of dust sitting on it's lap, cradled by it's empty gauntlets.

They held a moment of peace and then made their way up the stairs. The aches and pains of the stairs didn't daunt them now. It instead felt like a penance for their misdeeds. They'd slain a good woman who was just following orders to take them down. Toriel was sullen and borderline listless the whole way up. The Gaster brothers did their best to support Steven who climbed with a passion as if to distance himself from what was going on around him.

Nobody celebrated when they reached the top. What awaited them should have been met with cheers. A highway standing over a river flowing away from them. A giant sign off to the side declared to all: "Welcome to Hotland!" in cheery red text that scrolled horizontally across the sign. The road was clear of blockades or any royal guard obstructions.

They'd lost the royal guard in their mad dash through the tourist area!

"we're pretty close to the king now." Sans remarked, "just a few elevators, a walk through the core's industrial plant and then mtt resort."

"That's-That's good." Steven tried to be a bit more cheerful. He cracked a smile and lifted his tone… but his eyes weren't on board with the emotion. Papyrus caught it immediately.

"NOW ISN'T THE TIME FOR THIS." Papyrus looked around him, "COME ON EVERYONE! WE'RE JUST ABOUT TO GET TO ASGORE FROM HERE! WE SHOULD BE HAPPY! LIKE SANS SAID JUST A FEW ELEVATORS AND WE'LL HAVE STOPPED THE KINGDOM FROM BEING DESTROYED!"

"Yes, yes of course." Toriel replied, "We should get moving."

"tori, are you going to be alright?" Toriel turned to look at the three of them. The trio of males were in varying states of emotional stability. Papyrus seemed mostly alright, Steven was upset but seemingly stable enough not to crack. Sans seemed the most on edge at the situation aroud them for whatever reason. Toriel nodded,

"Death has visited me more times than most. We're old acquaintances and I'd hoped that our last visit would've been the last but it would seem that death enjoys my presence too much to leave me be." Toriel answered, "But should we dally here, all of the kingdom shall be rendered dust or conversely all of the surface will be made red. We must continue."

With that thrillingly morbid response the group pressed on. Steven really wasn't feeling up to continuing onward. It had seemed so simple back at Gaster's place that morning. Just trek up a few hills, walk through hotlands and up to Asgore. Now they'd become fugitives, Toriel was a murderer and Steven had been positively identified as a Gem. Sans was no longer a scout ahead because he had to save them. Gaster was probably being arrested for plotting against the crown and treason.

"steven, chin up." Sans consoled, "my old man's always got a plan. the guy's got backbone if you know what i mean."

"Okay." Steven replied, "But what if he's in trouble? What if we're walking into a trap? What-"

Sans shook his head at Steven. "kid, chill. you can't be everywhere doing everything. do what you can where you are and hope. thing might still go wrong but it's better to accept what you've got than to keep on whining about how you don't have something."

"sides, i see an nice cream stand just up ahead." Sans pulled out a few gold coins, "my treat alright?"

"NICE CREAM! NICE CREAM!" Papyrus squealed at the sight of the of the young underfolk manning the small ice cream wagon. Toriel was forced to stop and watch the trio gladly buy themselves a frozen treat.

"four cold ones please." The sales person smiled sincerely to them before reaching into his little wagon and producing the goods. He handed them out to each of them before asking for payment. Sans was more than happy to oblige as the coins clinked onto the guy's hand. Offering them a thumbs up the trio did the same as they caught up with Toriel,

"Want one?" Steven asked as he held out the fourth thing of ice cream to Toriel. The monarch weakly smiled before taking her allotment of ice cream. Together the quartet munched on the ice cream bars. The frozen treats proved more than pleasant as they began to brave the hotlands which lived up to their namesake. It wasn't very long at all until they were confronted with open pits of lava.

Steven finished the Nice cream bar and read his nice words "Don't stop believing!"

He looked up and immediately frowned at what he was looking at. Below them sat the rivers of lava that made Hotland famous and gave it it's name. Rivers might not be the best of term to describe them. They did flow like rivers do but unlike water they did so explosively. Explosively does not refer to the way water behaves at river rapids that involves white foam. It is meant literally as in, the lava itself will go through small outbursts where in the lava is hurled into the air.

"woah." Steven let out as he felt the heat of one such flare hit him. To say it was hot was an understatement. His eyes felt dryer from standing too close to the updraft of air. Toriel did not look happy at the situation as she panted in the heat. Steven silently hoped that she wasn't like a dog which meant not being able to sweat properly… that'd be a huge bummer.

"Gaster informed me that his 'replacement' should be stationed in a laboratory close to here." Toriel relayed to them, "We ought to be careful. There's no telling what this new royal scientist has in store for us."

Enlivened by the sweet cool taste of the ice cream everyone seemed a bit more like themselves. They gave their affirmation to be careful in unison as they started to get the group moving once more. Which lead them right towards a gargantuan structure composed almost entirely of chrome metal. It was in the shape of a cube and it soared into the sky like some oversized nintendo console from the 2000's. The structure had a very nice sign that read "Lab" in unassuming red text atop the entrance that lay below it.

There was even a small signboard off to the side that read: "Express route to Asgore ahead! No immigration checks or royal guard patrol routes. Just walk on through Dr. Alphy's lab! You won't be disappointed!" Beneath this was a schematic detailing the layout of the laboratory ahead and the projected route that would take them to Asgore's throne room. It also marked out the major roads leading to Asgore's keep in New Home and the obstacles in their way.

"What." was the singular response all four of them gave at the sight of this.

"IT'S A TRAP!" Papyrus instantly declared, "FIENDISH FIENDS AND THEIR ADVERTISEMENTS!"

"It is very suspicious…" Toriel had to admit, "But it would be nice to get to Asgore without any more setbacks."

"tori, i might not be one for suggest the path of most resistance but i think we shouldn't take this 'easy' route."

"Yeah, I'm with them." Steven commented, "Seems like something some cartoon bad guy would do."

With the concensus clear the quartet turned around, went up the road and happily got into Asgore's keep, told him he was being silly and stopped the gems from killing everybody. The End.

…

Fine, this narrator will stop ad-libbing and continue telling the intended story.

The quartet turned from the lab resolved to find another way forward. The lab however had other plans for our dear adventurers. A loud bang sounded from behind them and a cloud of dirt flew from the impact of a projectile that touched right in front of them.

"Would you kindly enter the facility?" came a voice from the lab. The four of them turned and stared backwards at the chrome covered lab. The doors were now open. A rather large array of guns were now trained on them. The guns looked to have simply poked out from the lab's sleek chrome exterior with the panels that would make up the exterior sitting on top of them and their ammo caches.

Needless to say all four of them began to walk towards the lab. They took slow deliberate steps. Each of them stared at one another in panic. Steven produced his shield then,

"I won't let you order us aroudn!" he cried out and readied his weapon. A gun loosed a bullet at him and his shield. The impact was enough to blow him back quite a ways and disrupt his shield completely. Steven tumbled to a stop painfully and then lay still.

The rest of them froze and looked on at Steven's battered form. The boy got up with a groan. They breathed a sigh of relief, "Would you kindly enter the facility, please." the voice requested more firmly.

And so they ventured inside.

What awaited them within the lab was a simple room. It was a perfect cube like the rest of the lab but much smaller. There was a door on each horizontal face of the cube. The entrance to the labs however barred shut with actual iron bars the moment they entered. In the center of the room was a sign,

"Welcome to Alphys' dungeon! It's everything promised and more! Prepare yourselves to face Monsters, Machines and Madness unlike anything you've ever seen! Now be sure to split up or my ceiling turrents will turn you into dust!"

The four of them looked upwards to find that indeed there was a gun turrent on the ceiling. From how large it was the turrent was an even more powerful version of the ones outside! How this was so, none of them wished to know. Steven however knew that his shield would probably get him killed if he even tried his stunt outside here.

"So who's going where?" Steven piped up in concern. Toriel eyed the doors with suspicion and worry. Papyrus was a great deal more calm about this. Steven was willing to bet that was because of his training but maybe he had a good poker face. The skeleton man walked over to the door across from the entrance.

"I AM READY!" Toriel nodded and with some reluctance took to the door to the right of the entrance.

"We all must do our part…" She murmured, looking at the door as if it was going to grow teeth and a mouth to gnaw at her.

"Alright Sans, which door would you-" Steven turned to Sans and found to his disbelief a distinct abscence of the skeleton man. The stout underfolk had vanished! He looked around in hopes that he'd simply missed him going for a door. Every which way he looked he only saw Toriel, Papyrus and the sign. The sign was far too short to conceal Sans and the entrance was barred. Sans might've gone for the last door but they'd definitely have heard him.

"HUMAN! MY BROTHER IS KNOWN FOR HIS 'SHORTCUTS' HE SIMPLY TOOK ONE. HURRY AND TAKE YOUR POSITION!" Steven frowned in confusion and the insanity of the situation. How was he supposed to reconcile that one of their number had simply disappeared?! Magic or not the only thing's they'd done so far was levitate, make fire, shoot bullets and crazy physics defying stuff like gravity fields and spontaneous force generation.

Teleportation… Steven shrugged. He was only about 14 and he was already too old for this. He walked over to his door and signaled,

"Ready." And with that each of them entered into the darkness of another space.

Steven found himself in a long hallway. The walls were black and were made of some incredibly dark corners where the wall met the floor and the wall met the ceiling was outlined in white lights that gave the room some illumination. A intervals of distance comparable to the height of the hallway was a splitting of the large plate of tile that composed the floor. This split was also lit with this light and was mirrored on the ceiling as well. Steven wondered why this was so but it didn't seem immediately important.

He walked on with his boots clomping heavily on the tiles. He missed now the familiar sound of his flip flops. Now that he was away from others he began to notice a lot more about himself. He was exhausted and hungry. He wished he still had the backpack Toriel had packed for him. That thing was loaded with lots of things, including the flip flops. He hoped they'd meet up soon so he could put those back on and grab a bite to eat.

The hallway continued on for three squares and then turning "northwards" at the third square. Steven turned and followed the path. He thought deeply about what was going on around him.

He really wanted to talk to Asgore. He wanted to discuss why the man was doing what he was doing. Was it revenge for the war? That he could understand but… even humans weren't getting all up in arms over the crystal gems. Actually maybe that was why nobody gave them the respect they deserved seeing as they were effectively paying back on "respect" debt. Steven wasn't so good with using words that relate to abstract concepts of respect that veer heavily into financial terminology.

Maybe he's doing something Mayor Dewey does sometimes. Weird political stuff in other words. Steven thought about it and figured that that wasn't the reason. Asgore's a king. King's don't just suddenly do political stuff for re-election, they get dethroned for good reasons and stuff. How king's and major governments actually worked was yet another thing Steven wasn't terribly good at understanding but tried he did and you must give a child credit for that.

What if Asgore's acting out because he lost his son? What if he's just really upset and doesn't know how to deal with it. Just like Pearl gets despite having centuries of life experience. Steven thought about it. The train of thought he engaged it was so circular he got a ginormous headache and cursed himself for trying to rationalize part of the human condition when he wasn't entirely sure of anything as a child himself.

The hallway then branched into two parts, forward and parallel to the original hallway but headed away from the entrance. Steven took the forward path and continued thinking,

If he's not grief stricken or upset maybe he just wants freedom whole heartedly… Steven really felt satisfied with this answer. He stopped thinking about it with a smile until he realized that they'd met Undyne who'd called herself an Anti-Gem Specialist. That didn't sound entirely like a kingdom looking only for freedom. Anti-anything meant bad stuff that anything. He was a gem. If more like Undyne came along… that would be bad.

It'd help against homeworld gems. Then again they would probably try to take him and the gems out before they even tried to listen to them about their homeworld gem plight. It'd be nice if the Gems and the Underfolk could work together to beat those guys.

Steven pictured underfolk werewolves and dragons fighting alongside him and the gems. It'd be so cool and full of action and explosions and magic and bullets. They'd wipe the floor with the homeworld gems and look awesome doing it. They'll make some huge movie about it and everyone'll watch it. They'll have autographs and become famous and do so much cool stuff like having the Gem Rangers, mighty mortal fighting rangers!

"Are you just going to wander aimlessly with that absent minded look on all day?" came a voice from above. Steven looked up as if to spot the speaker. It was an electronic sounding voice and Steven chided himself for a moment for looking up. Obviously he was alone in this maze.

"Well, I sort of have a lot to think about and this is just walking. Why should I be doing something?" He asked the voice. The voice was silent for a good minute and Steven thought that it wasn't going to reply. The small click of an intercom coming on alerted him to an imminent reply,

"There's a monster in there with you and you're just wandering around…" Steven blinked and looked down and up the hallway he was in. Either the monster was on the ceiling, in the walls or just plain invisible or Steven was indeed all alone.

"I don't really see him so I'll just keep walking. Besides monsters usually growl or hiss or something. I've fought lots of monsters before so I know how to handle them." he puffed out his chest and made himself look tough. He had to. Whatever this thing was that was talking to him over the intercom might be a bad guy. The last thing a hero should do in front of a baddie is look downtrodden or weakened. Villains loved to see their villainous plans work!

This time the intercom really did stay silent. Steven shrugged before continuing down the hallway.

And royal scientists. Was that like the opposite of a court wizard like Merlin? Steven supposed that given that everyone here could use magic it made sense that technology would become the more sought after thing. His phone was probably more advanced than all of their technology put together. He looked around and scrapped that idea. He was in some kind of labyrinth with an intercom and cameras that could see him.

Their technology wasn't stone age. Also their armor wasn't simple stuff like in fantasy novels. They had some advanced stuff. How was that so? They'd been trapped down here forever! He really was kind of curious how they were doing all of this. He supposed their scientists could make stuff just like they did up top… but it all seemed too similar to be coincidence.

Eventually Steven turned another corner. "Enjoying your pleasant stroll?"

"Uh… yeah, this is actually not too bad. I'm just not seeing this monster." Steven replied cheerfully. He wasn't terribly afraid. He might be a kid but he was a crystal gem and as previously stated they saved the day or found a way. He also had the shield which as also previously stated could rebound force by several factors. Monsters tended to get slammed backwards when he got serious.

"Oh you well, make no mistake!" The intercom cut off and Steven was left to continue thinking and exploring.

Speaking of strange things. Steven thought about on that weird heart thing. It had looked like a diamond and most diamond looking things on earth were either regular gems or magical alien gems. But… that diamond had come from Undyne. Underfolk weren't gems so what was that? Was it just something she at or was put in her. Steven reflected that he didn't know much about Underfolk customs a side from the observance of Christmas and military stuff.

But… what if it had been a magical alien gem? What did that mean. What if that was a natural part of Undyne? A gem in a living thing? Steven frowned. It felt like he was thinking about himself. He had never been terribly comfortable with discussion the strange quirks of being half gem. Awesome Gem powers were cool and something he liked… but not knowing exactly what he was wasn't.

He chose to change the topic of analysis and move on.

Over the course of what felt like hours Steven walked through every square of the "maze." He honestly felt it was just a simple hallway that branched at times and reconnected on itself but was still just a winding round about. He didn't see any door and he definitely remembered the layout pretty well.

It occurred to him that maybe there were secret doors! Like in those castles or in Batman! That drove him to every square he'd been on. He didn't really know how one revealed a secret passage but he figured if it was like a door, you'd just knock. Maybe the wall would sound of feel different when you knocked. Maybe the wall would be made of paper and just give way in your hands!

Sure enough one of the walls he'd passed by had been some secret passage. It let him into a little chamber about two by two squares big. This chamber held a single object, a switch. Steven was starting to have a little bit of fun now. Like any good gamer Steven activated the switch with excitement, who knew what it would do.

The room was suffused with light. Steven shut his eyes in surprise and discomfort. After a bit he cracked them open a bit and squinted in the harsh bright light. His eyes slowly adapted to the glare and he was able to see. There in the room was something else. It was large and towered over him. He brought out his shield and braced himself.

"Aha! You were behind me the whole time!" He exclaimed in excitement.

"Of course I was Steven. I've always been with you." purred the smooth warm voice of deepest joy and profoundest love. The voice was feminine but deeper than most. It had a cadence all it's own, a majesty unmistakable. Steven was so shocked to hear this voice that his shield went away on it's own and he was filled with dread that he would raise a weapon to it. Dread that he almost ended her. Dread of death.

"Mom?" Rose Quartz got down into a crouch and opened her arms. Steven gasped at the sight. It wasn't the star wars styled blue projection that Pearl made, it wasn't Amethyst and her impersonations. it wasn't some woefully inadequate recording on a scree. Rose quartz, his mother and the only loved one he'd never gotten meet, was welcoming him into her embrace.

"Oh oh" Steven blubbered as he burrowed himself in her arms. "I-I-i"

"Steven, it's okay. Let it out. I know it's been hard. Just let it all out." Steven did so. All those dreadful past memories of not having her around to help him. The times he'd dreaded failing the gems because he wasn't her. That dreading feeling that she'd given him life just before something so big that she would have been better at dealing with. It all flowed out of him.

"Sssh, See it's alright. There's no need to be upset anymore." Steven felt her patting him on the back. Her hands felt so soothing as he felt calm and peace enter him. Thus he felt himself empty of dread and it felt very very good.

"I'm so sorry I hadn't been there to protect you and to make sure you were safe." She played with his curly hair. "I should've been a better mother to you and been there."

"No you were great. I thought about you everyday!" Steven replied gladly, "All the gems wouldn't stop talking about you. Dad's always playing your favorite music and showing me stuff you liked."

"Oh hm hm hm." She laughed, "really? Like what?"

And so Steven regaled her with the happy memories of his family remembering Rose for who she was. The laughs they'd shared, the heartbreaks they'd whethered, the bonds they'd made, the changes that time had done to them, The battles fought and the little things that history would never record that made a world of difference.

"My! You've certainly been quite busy." She looked around them and frowned then, "But however did you end up here?"

"Oh, we were trying to get to the barrier in the kingdom of the Underground. If we don't get there in time Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl will go nuts on the people here. But now I want to show them that you're alive and that we can be a family and go on missions and do awesome stuff, together!"

"Underground? You mean you're in the monster lands?" Rose looked shocked

"Monsters? No, they like to call themselves Underfolk." Steven corrected as he got up from her lap and took her hand, "Come on we gotta find a way out of her and meet up with them!"

Rose resisted, "Them? You mean you've been consorting with monsters?!" She rose to her feet.

"yeah of course…" Steven looked and saw Rose's placid face now marred with concern and distant revulsion. He couldn't understand. "Is there something wrong?"

"Steven, Dear, You can't go along with these monsters. They're not what they claim they are. We should wait here for the rest to arrive like you said they would." Steven was highly confused. The underfolk had been nothing but lovely persons to him. She was painting them as dreadful things to be scorned and reviled. What was this?

"But they're nice and some of them are really cool. You should get to meet them. I know you fought them a long time ago but things are different and lots of them are really nice. Their queen's totally a good person and I think you'll like her."

"I don't think so Steven. You must be mistaken. I've only met them as horrid abominations that attack without cause and make people's lives miserable."

"Mom, I…" Steven frowned and squinted at Rose. Something was wrong. Something that filled him with,

Dread.

"What's the matter dear?" Rose asked as her voice warped and her body flickered, "You look so shocked. What are you seeing?"

"muh-mom?!" He back away, letting go of Rose's hand.

"Oooh, I feel positively dreadful." And with that Rose ceased to be. Her form morphed and pulsed alive with a dark energy. The rose abomination howled as it summoned forth shadowy glitchy versions of Steven's shield and Rose's Sword. It stood and face him, eyes once loving now full of rage. Steven tried will his shield into being. Security, protection, safety.

He had to leapt backwards out of the path of Rose's swipe at him. He was alarmed. The normal feelings of safety and being secure were all connected to her. He'd been so caught up in finally being able to meet her he wasn't thinking straight. He frantically tried to order his thoughts and to make himself produce that oh so necessary shield.

Again he had to dodge as his heart and mind fought for control of his shield.

"STeveEn, Why DoN't you cOMme to-TO Momi-mie!" The rosabomination lumbered forward! WIth it's free arm under the shield it grapsed Steven. Steven tried to get away but it was too fast and it's larger hand clamped down on his own.

She was close to the touch. Icy in fact. Steven yelped at the hand.

"Please STOP!" Steven screamed and with that his shield appeared pushing her hand away and knocking him to the ground. He held the shield through will and righted himself with fear creeping over him and sapping him of strength.

"NoW NOow. Yu-yOU mmusSt beHAvve Steven!" The rosaberation garbled at him as it took another swing. Steven was ready as he intercepted it with his shield and tried to force the energy of the attack back at her. The sight of Rose and the familiarity of the idea that she was his mother and his most beloved caused him to falter and the intended force blast never materialized.

Instead the sword scraped along the surface of the shield with a loud "clonk*

He couldn't do it! He couldn't murder his mother!

* * *

Day 24

Word Count: 37631 total (6697 Today)

(...)


	11. Chapter 11 Nothing is the same anymore

A/N: We're slowly closing in on the "recommended" amount of words for the day. I'm feeling more up to the task and I've got a full outline of everything that needs to happen within the next 10K. We should be all set to win this challenge and drive this story home!

Also, thank you to everyone that has left reviews and PM's thus far. You've definitely shown that I could've done more research and thought things through better in writing this. You've also made me realize that I missed a lot of cool opportunities which is quite disappointing. So thanks for that!

Before we continue, There's a bit of explaining I need to do. You're going to see *...* in this chapter. They're supposed to be thoughts. That is all!

Now for today's bit.

* * *

On the last episode of Steven's Tale: TNG

"Stay back!" Steven shrieked as he backed towards the doorway. His breath was quick and his mind was speeding with thoughts. He mustn't but he needed but he couldn't! It wasn't his mom. He tried to burn that thought into his head. It wasn't her it was some crazed corrupt copy or clone of his mom. He tried to convince himself of that.

But every time he looked at her he was reminded of an entire lifetime of longing and wanting to be with her. The hopeful lovely dreams full of her warm embrace. The loving laughter she'd let out. The promise of getting to hold her. It flooded his small mind and held him captive. He couldn't attack her. That would be like striking down every last good notion about his mother he'd ever had!

It was hard! How do you convince yourself to throw away a love you've wanted for so long?! You don't. Steven agonized as he took yet another couple of steps backwards as the Rose monster leapt at where he'd been standing.

"What do I do, How do I," He mumbled out loud as his head was too full of conflicting notions for him to think, "need need"

"de-DeaReesT SteVenn, Wwhy? Pl-pleaSeeE SstTtoooOp Looking at Me LIKE tHaAtT." Steven's whole body revolted against him as the plaintive tone of the Rose clone tore at his sensibilities and psyche. Was this how Garnet felt every time she went up against a Cluster Fusion? This almost existential horror that threatened to leave you screaming from the way it distorted and sullied the most cherished things in life?

Steven glanced up anxiously at the Rose Horror. She shambled at him with her weapons ready. She held the shield raised at him with her sword blade over the shield which was tilted at an angle to bounce any attack from him away from her. He fearfully watched the way she approached and dashed towards her belly side as she attempted to crush him with her shield.

"wi-hey argr yoou fia-ghting me-ME?!",The Doppleganger Rose sent her elbow down at Steven. The boy hurriedly thrust his shield up in time to intercept it. He had been successful but the abrupt nature of the attack had thrown him off his feel and he landed on his belly. He gasped as the wind and his confidence left him sharply. The rose close shook at the situation before shifting the grip on her sword to stab at him.

The blade bit down on the tile as Steven rolled away from her. He whined as he got his breath back into him but not his confidence. He got to his feet with pain racing through his torso from the fall. He squinted through the pain to see the Rose copy charging at him. He turned and ran.

"I-I-I See-EH that Per-Per-earl has been T-ut-ooring you o-o-on F-iaght-eung!" The Rose commented she sent her shield at him like a discus. Steven ducked and angled his shield and the deadly spinning disc scrapped off his own before careening into a wall and stayed there. He grimaced at how deep it had stuck in there!

"pr-Acticss M-ackers Peur-fiact!" He gaped and panted. He wasn't winning. If anything he was losing and losing worse and worse with each passing moment. He dreaded what would happen when he messed up. He knew it would happen. He'd been dreading it all his life! He was going to screw up and everything would go badly and it'd be his fault!

"How- How! HOW?!" He heaved and huffed as the Rose recalled her shield with a quick dismissal and summoning. The Imposter rose had a pleased expression that belied some hopeful idea that Steven would grow into a fine gem who could be counted on for lots of things. The look stabbed at him and haunted him as he turned and ran in more ways than one. His feet pounded on the ground as his mind ran from his own expectations and those of his family.

"Can't! Must! MUST! Need!" He puffed out as his body shook and shuddered under the weight of survival and the increasing pressure to keep calm. He was failing.

He turned the corner and made to rush down another path to lose her. He had to lose her. He couldn't fight her. He had to find a way out! There had to be a way out! There just had to be!

"W-hare Did Y-ooo-uh Gr-o? C-umi OW-ut Come Out! Wherever you Are!" The rose monster teased as she approached. Steven tried to suck in a breath to steady himself. There was an enormous pressure right between his eyebrows and his ears were pounding. He felt hot and his hands were white from tension of clenching his fists.

That and his vision was going because he could see her. He could see Rose. The sight almost sent him into a fit. He'd been found! But the Rose in his sight was blurry and indistinct. Steven blinked and through his headache tried to make sense of it. Hallucination? Nerves? Anxiety panic stuff.

*O-o-o-of Lo-o-o-ove…* Came the whisper in his mind. It cut through the howls in his mind for action and the roars for restrain. It was quiet and gentle. Like water droplets on stone. A far off memory, a distant ideal. A sweet remembrance. Steven could feel himself coming back into him as he remembered something.

"St-eh-vun…" The rose in the maze called out.

*and I want to inspire you… I want to be your rock…* soothed the whisper once more. It played against his doubts and fears. It sang passionately but steadily. Like the crescendo of an anthem. A deeper meaning, a purpose fulfilled. A burning dream. Steven started to feel his limbs more clearly and how he'd been so scared that he hadn't been standing strong or bracing properly.

"I-I'amh Guh-unnoing to Fiynd You!" The rose sounded closer,

*Well I guess there's just some things that will never go away...* assured the whisper. He felt like it was talking about the worries and responsibilities that weighed on him. It embraced the reactions he had to his situation and life without condescension. It painted in darker tones, bringing contrast and distinction to the panorama of things. An acceptance found in experience, strength out of circumstance. A burgeoning new hope. Steven could feel his reluctance melting like snow in spring.

*Beloved child remember this too… in this world of gems there's no one like you.* A smile returned to his face as he felt himself breathe fully and well. His muscles loosened and settled into his kin. His posture improved and his shoulders lowered from the cringe he'd been locked in.

*With my short existence… I can make a difference!* His brows and body lowered as his stance went wide. He could feel his heart beating in time, a steady bass to the rhythm of his mind. How could he have forgotten about them. The people would'd made him who he was. The people who time and again picked him up when he'd fallen down. How had he forgotten that he counted on their support as much as they counted on him.

*If I could begin to be… Half of what you think of me… I could do about anything… I could even learn how….*

"To love like you do." Steven sang. His voice echoing within and without of himself. Like night breaking to dawn and he felt the dread fall away. He felt truly alive. He looked up and saw her. The lady of his dreams giving him an ardent smile. A tear rolling down her cheek as she hugged herself before vanishing.

In her stead stood the monster of his waking. The specter of her memory. The heinous mockery of her.

"Hey!" Steven called out. The Monster turned to face him. "I wanna see your guts."

"Steeven!" The monster charged and Steven was ready. It swung at him. This time he was focused and composed. This time he held the dread inside of him at bay. This time He willed what he felt into his shield. He sent the emotion of defiance spiraling to it's center

*And I'm stronger than you!* Force like a train barreled into the Monster! It was thrown back to the end of the hall, it's weapons flying as it flew. Steven began to walk as the monster landed in a heap.

"Stehvon!" The monster sent her shield at him. He ducked beneath his shield, angling so that the opposing weapon would slide right off and into the ceiling. Upon contact he sent another pulse of emotion, memory and will into his shield. He held it there as he whirled the shield to face the Monster.

*And I know that we can be strong.. in the real way!* The monster writhed as it was pounded into the wall. It hissed and spat at him as it called it's shield back. Rising it roared at him before charging at the young gem. lunged, throwing it's whole body behind it's shield and into Steven's

*We'll be thinking about our friends as we chase the setting sun!* Again the Monster was repelled by another burst of kinetic energy. Steven watched it smash into the wall as he kept on coming.

*I'd sing to you, and I'd do it again!* *I can be there for him!* With a will of his own he pulled the energy behind those thoughts from his mind and into the shield. The pink protector lit up and sent off another bolt of force, bludgeoning the Monster again. The thing lay on the ground in what looked like intense pain.

"Wuh- cann I D-do f-our you…" the Monster gasped out. Steven glared at it in pity before it simply collapsed into dark tendrils of energy. The ruined wall behind the monster broke down as well revealing a path out of the maze and into a new chamber.

Steven eagerly went through it but not before paying his respect.

"Thanks mom." He said as he regarded his shield. He fondly watched the defensive weapon fade into sparkles of light before he ducked through the opening.

* * *

The chamber turned out to be a living room. Steven had expected death traps or maybe some other monster to block his path. He hadn't been expecting sofas, a TV and loads of portraits.

But there they were. It was a living room with pleasant colors decorated in a more modern style. A large flat screen television surrounded by tall piles of CD's and DVD's stood at the center of it. A well used sofa was placed in front of it. There were a few pieces of popcorn on it. Some half-finished sodas sat atop today's newspaper on the coffee table situated between the TV and the sofa.

The Newspaper was running a headline that read: "Gem Soldier attacks local park! 10 wounded from the fight! Still at large!"

There were shelves everywhere. Lots of them had what looked like medical records and reference books but between all of them were little picture frames. They covered every surface. Scenes of Undyne and another person doing lots of goofy things. There was one of them eating ice cream as they viewed a city skyline from a bench, another of them at the shooting range with Undyne in shock and Alphys holding up a target with a hole in the bulls-eyes of the head and chest. There were some photo booth print outs framed with them making faces or making out.

Steven blinked as he continued looking around. Mounted above the sofa was a harpoon and a katana in a cross. A golden plaque underneath said: "The sharpest gals this side of the rock layer! Undyne and Alphys."

Every portrait on the walls was of Undyne. Some clothed and in a battle stance, some not so much. They were all artful and beautifully done in oils, pastels and watercolors. Some charcoal pieces of Undyne were sitting on an easel half finished off to the corner of the living room. A work table stood close by littered with books, schematics, paints, herbs, spices and various tools from various fields.

"Hello." Steven looked up. Standing on a flight of stairs leading to a second floor balcony where there were doors was a slim humanoid figure. It had tan colored scales and was only a bit taller than he was. It wore a white coat over a green sweater and skinny jeans. A pair of designer glasses sat on it's muzzled face as he looked to him with beady reptilian eyes. A line of spines followed the curve of her head and neck but ended before her sweater's neck line. A long slender tail poked out from behind her.

A name tag read "Alphys, RS." Steven recoiled.

"Do make yourself comfortable." She withdrew a gun from her coat. It was a strange device with a hazard warning on the side and a scope on top of it despite being a pistol. A laser sight was attached below the barrel of the gun and it's point was trained on Steven's heart. "I hope you don't mind that I do the same."

Steven was immediately uncomfortable. A lifetime of dealing with women and weird relationships had prepared him for this moment. He knew where it was safe.

Nowhere. Nowhere in this living room was safe. Every last article within the room was a mine that could go off at the slightest touch. He wisely chose to stand and not move or speak.

He suddenly wished the Monster he'd just fought were still here. At least that was something he now had a better handle on. This.. This was an exercise in feminine fastidiousness. Most men don't understand women. Most older men didn't understand women. Steven was a young sir with an entire lifetime of study from birth.

He knew enough to know that he knew jack squat. It filled him with shame… and dread.

Alphys proceeded to sit on the stairs, "I've been watching you, you know."

"Observing your actions and relationships. It was rather nice to be honest until…" Steven swallowed hard, "You murdered my girlfriend."

"Now now, I won't kill you." She sneered at him, "That would be too good for you."

"Besides, I made a promise to my funny 'unny and I fully intend to keep that promise. " And thus she pulled the trigger. A golden light flashed out at him. Steven flinched at the light and expected something to happen. He was ready to be at the mercy of this mourning lover.

But nothing happened.

He peeked out and frowned at himself. It was like the gun was some fancy flashlight or something. He looked into the light and just saw that it was a yellow diode. He was terribly confused what was a bit of golden light going to do to him.

"Of course I'm shining an innocuous light at you. A vengeful scientist with a gun is pointing a flash light at you for no reason." Alphys rolled her eyes, "It's a DT Suffusion Gun. You're being subjected to 200 times the safe amount of Determination an Underfolk can survive in."

"What?" "I'm giving your mommy an unceremonious De-termination." On cue Steven's Gem flared to life and a hand reached out of it. Steven paled. The hand groped around blindly as Alphys continued to speak

"You see, I've been studying Underfolk physiology alongside Dr. Gaster. We've been very interested in our make up. Turns out we're all half-corrupted gem shards that have been assimilated into organic lifeforms." The hand extend further and soon a new bit of torso and breast could be made out in the light of the gun,

"When a gem is critically injured it retreats into its stone to recuperate. For Bio-Gems, like the underfolk, they retreat into a broken stone. The necessary energy to regenerate isn't present and the internal conflict between the young but whole organic persona and fractured gem personas is so strong that it fractures the stone itself. The organic body simply degenerates as the hard light construct holding it together dissipates. That is the dust you see upon our death." A hip and leg were now dangling from Steven's Gem. The weight of them pinned him to the ground! The light continued to shine.

"Our magical qualities are based around emotional stability. Gem captives gained from the war described that they needed to leverage the same sort of emotional stability to utilize their powers. It was the first piece of evidence investigators found that lead to the development of Bio-Gem theory." Now a full set of legs and lower body joined the arm and the weight of them was tremendous to Steven. Still the Golden light shone on him.

"Another breakthrough was the discovery of Human Determination. A metaphysical substance produced by humans that allowed their souls to persist after death. A sort of Proto-Gem due to residual Gem particles embedded in their physiology. Such Determination can be extracted and applied or manipulated easily." The last arm appeared and so did the other breast.

"Determination applied to Bio-Gems tends to result in adverse reactions. One such reaction is the dissolution of determination dosed subjects into amorphous masses that readily combine with other dissolved subjects. It is theorized that this is due to determination reactivating the Souls stored in Gems. This investigator," Alphys grinned as she surveyed her work, "Decided that such a theory needed to be put to the test."

Steven felt the world flip on him as he felt thoughts not his own join his consciousness. Emotions, sensations, ideas, body rhythms and concepts flew in his mind. He tried to hold on as he knew what Alphys meant. Rose Quartz was beginning to wake. She was beginning to come back. What that meant for him… he didn't know.

"It is theorized that the old consciousness would be eliminated completely as the Gem persona, whole and dominant in form, would reassert itself. The next theory is that the two consciousness would fight and unite in a chaotic manner. The last possibility is that the organic side wins…" Steven could feel from Rose's forming body and hear them breathing through her ears and his own as her head behind to form at his belly, "...and dies due to the destruction of the Gem persona and it's ability to consciously project the constructs needed to support the organic side."

"This investigator believes that it all begins with a recoiling of the reforming gem body which signals the recombination of the forms." Alphys grinned sinisterly at them as she pointed the gun harder at the two bodies as Rose's form stopped emerging and snapped back. Steven's world went dark, soundless, scentless, tasteless, and empty all the while a wash with swirling colors, a pained cacophony of screams, the smell of sweat, blood, urine and bile, and taste of harsh air and the feel of the floor, air, cold and warm and two beating hearts from all directions.

Steven Lost Consciousness.

* * *

Day 25

Word count: 40807 total (3107 today)

Ah, Exposition. You are truly my saving grace when it comes to padding the story for words!

So what do you think of my crazy idea that Monsters are Gems? Hate it? Love it? I'm sure most of you are like "What the crap?!"

Bet none of you saw this coming! Which is sort of funny because the Undertale Wiki's page on Amalgamates has had numerous memetic references to "so this is what homeworld thinks of fusion." I'm totally serious. Check it out for yourself you won't be disappointed: wiki/Amalgamates

Poor Steven's gonna end up like the cluster fusions. Trapped together with his mom in a gem, fighting for dominance. At best, he kills her. At worst... they both die. So much fun! I'm a terrible person for making Steven go through this. Poor kid's been: attacked by his mom, separated from his family, forced to watch a good woman die, forced to confront existential horror on multiple occasions from within and without the conflict, faced with death at least ten times throughout his journey, forced to trudge through freezing cold and scorching heat, and now gets to join the Underfolk roster as an Amalgamate. Is there anything I won't put this kid through for word count?

Before any of you cry "BS" at my theme-song power up sequence and Steven magically snapping out of shock. Stop and check out Chapter 3's dream sequence. That's right, I primed it all up from the start. I foreshadowed the Rose fight! I even made sure to have Rose reaffirm to Steven what kind of person she was in a dream! A loving, super kind lady who respects life and wants to see how it lives and moves. I even did it using the method seen at the start of this. TADA! PLANNING!

Yes, Alphys and Undyne were a couple. A very functional, highly affectionate couple who worked and played together. I'm not an expert on lesbian relationships but I'm assuming it works rather similarly to any other relationship between two humans. Man I wish I hadn't killed Undyne now...

Also, there are a ton of references to lots and lots of other works in this fic: The dresden files, FF7, Star Trek, SoundCloud, Wizardry. It be neat if someone could find them all. I wonder if this is how Toby Fox and Rebecca Sugar's teams feel when they include these things in their productions. It's rather exciting to be honest.


	12. Chapter 12 Framing Device

A/N: I'm terribly sorry about this chapter. This is just... bad. I don't like it one bit. I wrote it because I couldn't think of anything else and the deadline's looming too close for comfort. I don't like it because I don't think Sans would talk this way. It's a stylistic choice to make it very clear that Steven's not the focus character. I wanted to convey Sans' personality through this... but I do believe I failed spectacularly with no time to correct.

Thus you get this piss poor excuse for Sans' characterization. It's got puns, jokes, references but it doesn't have soul or oomph to it. It's just prose attempting to be Sans' thoughts but not being that. That's how I think:

* * *

I shouldn't be taking the spotlight. This here's Steven's tale. It wouldn't be right. Then again, there doesn't seem to be anybody else here that can tell the next part. So I guess this just became story time with Sans. Shame that this ain't something Pap'll enjoy. Hope nobody's too bummed out that I'm taking on narration. I'll make sure to keep things to the bare bones minimum.

So anyways, I hopped on out of Alphys' dungeon. Kid's kinda a square these days. She was always down in the dumps until she met Undyne. Pap told me all about Alphys' promotion to weapons development. I'm too lazy to be bothered by office politics but even I could see that was Undyne playing favorites.

I mean my old man was head of research on the soul arts. The Freke System was up and running. He had a Gem disruption beam ready and everything, but them's the breaks. My old man got his shiny royal scientist gig swiped from under his nose. He was aghast at the news. Man was he steamed when he got home that day.

When Alphys wasn't looking I popped back in to check on Steven. Wow. Things were looking pretty bad. Some dread hellion was taking a swing at the kid. It look like it was gonna be a wash out. One more dead kid comin' up. Asgore wins, fatality.

But the kid just got up and popped the sorry looking bozo like it was nothing. He really forced the issue with that one. Knocked that broad right outta the maze, serious.

Then Alphys showed up and the whole kit and caboodle went south. My old man's been keeping an eye on some far out metaphysical stuff. He says that there's a reality out there where the gems don't even exist. You hearing this guy? A universe where some other kid just falls into the underground and saves everyone, including the prince.

Pretty sure my old man's got a few ligaments needing replacing with a yarn like that.

Anyways he tells me some pretty gruesome stuff. I'm not inclined to believe him. But something about those screams from the kid and what I make out as his mom seems familiar to me. It's freaking me out. I gotta hold it together for the kid and this storytelling schtick.

So there's the kid and his mom flailing about in a mass of bodies. It's really nuts to look at. I keep mostly out of sight as Alphys sends for her minions to cart the kid and his mom away.

Now don't be alarmed. These here aren't your regular Underfolk. I should know cause these guys look like that wouldn't have a good bone in their whole bodies. Underfolk souls are made up of love, mercy, and compassion. These brusiers are bad to the bone and I should know I'm made of the stuff.

They look like a chimp mixed together with bits and pieces of other monsters. No two of them look alike. Guess the almighty broke the mold the moment he saw them cause these guys have a face only a mother would love. They're big and brawny too. I think even Asgore would be hard pressed to push these guys around.

"Deliver this, gem, to Asgore immediately." She says gem like it's some filthy swear. Down in the Underground, it may as well be one. I'm not one for profanity, that takes too much effort from all the fuss you raise with the stuff. I'm trying to climb the ranks just like Pap's. Can't be doing bonehead things like giving people a bone to pick with me if you know what I'm saying.

So they heft the messy mish-mash and start lumbering out. Alphys has this convenient little set up in her place. There's a tunnel leading through the main research labs that goes up an elevator to Asgore's throne room. Makes making reports to him pretty easy. Not that Alphys needs help. She's always cranking out some kind of discovery.

Can you imagine that she miniaturized my old man's disruptor beam? Cripes the nerve of that poodle. Course she tried to make it all cutesy and gooey for her girl friend. Gave it to her as an anniversary gift. That's so sweet I got diabetes just hearing about it. I don't even have a BMI, can you believe.

Once the Alphys minions left I stuck around to check out what was up with Alphys. I mean I was there when her gal got done in. Didn't seem so right to be jetting off on her. Not much into peeping but you gotta take your lumps now and again.

Oi, it looked bad. The moment she was alone she just lost it. Tore that snappy little fix up she was wearing under the rest of her clothes in a hurry. Looked swell, probably something special for her gal. Guess the shindig's off, eh?

"Determination theory states that I can bring the dead back to life but soul-less. I'd need to construct a soul for her. What makes up a soul?" Boy was she out of her nut. Started going into some esoteric babble. Alphys got chops cause she only started losing it when she realized just out of her league she was. She was trying to play god. You don't bring the dead back to life. My old man warned me about stuff like this.

Something about Equivalent Exchange. When you love someone they mean the world to you. Nothing matters more than that one person. You lose that guy or gal and the whole world stops looking up for you. You go back to black and white television. You wind up some sappy schmuck. You can't be trading stuff that don't matter for something that does.

But Alphys looked ready to jump on over to the other side to see her gal. Somehow she had Undyne's armor and dust already with her. All prettied up in some swanky coffin like how the humans do their funerals. She got the lead out to get her paws on those. She looked about this close to bathing in her gal's dust and zapping herself with that ray gun. Guess the almighty loves saving ladies cause her phone started raising hell.

The ringtone was something classical with a piano. It sounded like one of Undyne's recordings. Paps took us all out to hear her play. She plays good. Not gonna fib fibs when the gal's style's got's swing. A real rockin' performance. She even looked all prim and proper like. A real gorgeous doll. She's always got on that armor of hers. Makes her look like C3P0 from some human Scifi. My old man's always going on about those.

"Y-yes?" Alphys sounded unsteady and not from a drink. Her eyes leaked onto her face. Looked like she had some makeup on for her gal cause the tears were leaving trails under her eyes. A sob story in done up in scales. I tuned in on the line. Gotta get while the getting's good,

"Alphys, I wish to see you." Old King Asgore. Bub's so loud I probably could've heard him from outside the lab.

"Yes your highness." Alphys replied. I know that look she was wearing. It's the one I get sometimes when my old man asks me for stuff. Usually it's helping Pap, like the table and the tea. He said it was my job to do crazy impossible things. Guy's right, that's right up my alley. Although sometimes it's doing strange stuff that makes no sense. He had me jumping over to the Gem controlled Territory a few days ago and knock some rock off the ceiling.

Said something about hitting the jackpot!

So Alphys starts walking over to her elevator. The thing's spacious. It's the sort of thing you'd exact elephants would be asked into. Fast too. Goes from the bottom of snowdin to near surface levels in a couple of seconds. Really lifts you up when you're down.

But it leaves no place for skeletons to go around minding other people's business. Fortunately I've got shortcuts.

* * *

Popping into Asgore's throne room is easy. You just gotta aim right. Best place to aim, the seat of Tori's throne. The sheet hangs just far enough that a little guy like me can comfortably observe anything happening. Best part, I can see through the sheet enough to make out what's going on but nobody else can. Ain't that just the greatest?

The throne room's one big greenhouse. Asgore's got the penthouse of the underground. You can see for miles the twinkling lights of towns and cities. It's also open to the surface sky and the sun. Guy gets a real tan from his throne, talk about living the life. What does he spend all his time doing instead of enjoying that sweet sunshine?

He stares at his war board. That's what I calls it. A honking huge table full of flags, troop positions, major cities and other bits. It's supposedly of the whole world. He just studies it like it's gonna change on him or something. Talk about needing to get a life.

Off to the side is his royal treasury. Just my fancy word for the SOUL collection and the Anti-Gem Arsenal. It's mostly just Alphys' guns and my old man's beam cannon. Alphy's stuff might look more spiffy and new than my dad's stuff but I know the genuine article when I see it. But that's me being biased. Alphys stuff can be used by even me. The beam cannon's something only Asgore can use. Thing's meant to go on a tank.

Asgore himself is something to write home about. Big dominating character. A real man's man, if we were human. Like I said, only Alphy's minions are comparable to him. Asgore does well for himself at the gym. Shows the rest of the brass up when it comes to combat readiness.

But look at his face and you know that you're not dealing with some meathead. Dark piercing eyes full of intelligence. Looking at them scares me. You humans probably have some saying about predatory animals staring down prey. That's what his eyes look to me. An omen of death. I'm not going near that. I like keeping my keister where it is, right here.

Asgore's busy with his little board game when Alphys enters. She's looking cleaner now and with some clothes on. All that makeup's gone now, just plain old Alphys looking up at Asgore.

"You needed to see me sir?" Asgore moved a piece on his mondo big monopoly set before looking up at her. I don't blame Alphys for wincing, Asgore's peepers could make Grillbys wet himself and guy's a nothing but spitfire.

"I'll be blunt. I'm very sorry for your loss." Wow way to soften the blow. Alphys's lips thinned.

"It is regrettable but acceptable losses in the war against the gems." What a load of crap. It's eating you up on the inside. You were an inch from pulling the same baloney with that flower. My old man knows and removed the house from reality just to shield us from it.

"Alphys, speak freely." Asgore requested firmly,

"May I refuse?" Alphys requested back. That's gotta take some stones but then again I'm not in on these two. Brushing up on court intrigue's for saps that have nothing better to do. I've got lots of things to do, like mind my own business. For all I know Alphys is some hussie moseying in on Tori's man. Wouldn't that just break Tori's heart, or maybe it wouldn't. She's been tee'd off about anything with Asgore's name on it since I met her in the flesh.

That kind of mad's a woman's scorn. I think you humans have something in your holy books on that.

Asgore didn't say anything. Bub just studied Alphys. You know how your parents will just look at you and read you like a book, play you like a fiddle. I got the notion that Asgore was doing that to her. Sticking it to her with his eyes alone. Takes a special kind of moxie to hold your ground to that.

I don't know how she did it but Alphys didn't break. Must be that Undyne put some spine in her. They were always doing stuff together. She didn't like it at first. Alphys hated the hikes, the camping and the trips but after a while she started taking to them. She started getting better at some of the things Undyne did.

She never did get the hang of cooking. Forget her guns, I'd take a bullet if it meant never eating her cooking. Putting that to the lips shortens the life!

"Maintain your duties and your person." Wow way to be caring about your advisors and personnel, big guy. "We must have the human's soul and the gem he bears at all costs."

"Of course." Alphys turned to leave. I didn't want to be in the same room as Asgore so I took a shortcut out to follow Alphys.

She was visiting my brother and Tori. Turns out they were captured. Alphys had made good on her promise and got everyone to the castle. Guess she forgot to mention the jailing, stripping of rank and body-mangling along the way. Should've gotten it in writing.

Pap was reduced to wearing a sentry's uniform, like the one I have on. It's the dinky green camo patterned uniform. He kept the shirt on. It fits him, he actually looks nice in it. I personally hate it, makes me look fat.

Tori looked awful. Pap and her were in different cells in the prison. She was crying her eyes out. If I had a heart it'd be going out for her right now. Nothing wrong with being sweet for a lady. Specially one that makes bad jokes like her.

"ALPHYS! YOU NEED TO LISTEN!" Pap was frantic, "YOU ARE ABOUT TO DOOM US ALL!"

"Dr. Gaster has lost his touch Branch Chief Papyrus." Alphys replied coldly, "There are no gems headed to the portal behind Asgore's throne. Just the bitter ramblings of a senile skeleton who can't get over that he's no longer the hottest name in the scientific community."

"Are you so blind to think Gaster an individual led purely by a need for applause?" Tori raged back. "You build weapons to fight a foe that's beaten us time and again on the slim gamble that they have not changed. You did and do this for a king hell bent on revenge and a lover the same. Who's the one out of touch?"

"I'm not…." Wow Tori's actually getting to her. She look spooked. Then she puffed up and spat back, "No, I won't be hoodwinked by the very person who murdered my Undyne!"

"So it would've been better to allow your lovely Undyne to murder Papyrus in front of my people and your soldiers and his brother. Excellent strategy my royal scientist. Sounds like a brilliant PR campaign" Tori retorted fiercely. Alphys looked taken aback,

"The needs of the many must outweigh the needs of the few." Alphys said, "Oh uh… wait."

"Noblesse oblige, You're the royal scientist. You must comport yourself with dignity and not as some sell-sword scientist to any who'll offer accolades. I see no such honor in your actions as you strut about making monsters and guns. Where are your efforts to help the masses? Gaster reverse engineered much of the technology we use today. Where's your contribution?"

My old man's old. He's been working as head honcho of all things science for several generations. He built the core, the giant thermo fusion generator at the heart of hotlands. Physics breaking innovations are his thing. I don't think Alphys over here has anything to top that.

"Dr. Gaster made this place livable but we will always dream of reaching the surface." Alphys replied as she started to look a bit more steady, "I'm just speeding up the process where he left off. Gem Disruption technology was to nullify the barrier without need for human souls. It failed. We're one soul away and we're going to need resources to keep our holdings gem free."

"The boy, Steven, is the child of a Gem commander from the war. He's the product of a Gem human cross species relationship. The world has changed and the way we're headed, we're not in rhythm with it. You'll be sending us to war against a surface world full of tolerance enough to allow a Gem and a Human to coexist within a home." Tori's whole face changed the minute she thought about Steven. It was like she was seeing the sun and the hope it brought to her. Makes me all teary just looking at her light up.

"One outlier in the data is not significant. It is improbable. You are deluding yourself. You don't know anything about him or his past. You have little evidence to show that the surface is as you describe." Alphys ranted, Tori looked ready to come at her,

"Yes I do know. That Steven is as sweet and kind as my little Asriel was. He has had love in his life and people who have cared deeply for and about him. He doesn't completely fit into the Gem world or the Human world. He's just like us down here in the underground. If someone like him can get along well enough to want to return to that world with all his heart then the surface is no longer the battleground you and Asgore wish to make it."

Alphys looked stunned. Pap just stared at Tori. Tori in the process of her speech had risen up to her full height. her eyes looked just like Asgore's did but with passion burning in her eyes rather than the penetrating bore of the king's. Those were the kind of eyes I'd turn to look at what they were trained on cause those eyes looked hopeful. Those eyes are the kind I'd follow to get a clue of what they're looking at cause if they can make a person look like that I want whatever it is.

"I must be leaving to process the human." Not so hot now are you Alphys. The Scientist turned and left, too upset to register that she'd passed me by. I took the opportunity to slip in.

"SANS!" "Thank goodness Sans!" Glad to know I've been missed, "Sans go find Steven and-"

"no can do tori. kid's in too deep." She looked horrified. It killed me to say that. "alphys did something bad to him. blasted him with a light gun. it's bad.." I gotta spare Tori the details. She just gave that spiel about Steven. Didn't seem right of me to come in there and wreck it. She still look like I'd told her that he'd had his body rearranged but at least she was worried rather than downright spooked.

"SANS" "yeah?" "TALK TO DAD ABOUT THE HUMAN. MAYBE HE KNOWS WHAT TO DO."

"our old man, huh? good thinking. that's why you're the best bro a guy could have." With that it was back to the Gaster house.

By the time I got back to the Castle thing's had changed...

* * *

Day 26

Word count: 44036 total (3229 today)

We've officially caught up! ~6K to go and then Nanowrimo is over! I sincerely doubt I'll get through all of this story within that.

Story's going to need a truck load of editting. I'm looking forward to it... after I get my other stuff done. This Novel's taken so much of my time.

I'd like to think Toriel's a good queen. The game seems to think so. I'd also like to think of her as the nuturing sort that's forward thinking and wants the best for her children and subjects for years to come.

I bet a lot of readers were thinking that we weren't going to make it or I'd sputter out sometime in the month. I thought I'd burn out but here we are on the precipice of victory! the edge of glory! the cusp of winning.

Just so you know. Next chapter is all Steven. I wanted to let my brain percolate on how to portray Steven's next part. Gotta handle it well.

Yes Alphys is still a bit awkward. She's super confident when it comes to what she's good at but not in other things as shown. Look at the way she fumbles. This is actually supposed to be a call back but I screwed up the line back then "The needs of the few must outweigh the needs of the many" In Chapter 5. I could change it but I'll do that later when I edit this bad boy. besides, it's an mistake on her part cause... she's valuing her undyne more than the people which is counter to that saying.

I'm not sure why I characterized Sans as some 1960's New Yorker in my head. I blame Puppy Timbers on Youtube for doing voice work that reminded me of such. You should check him out. He's done Sans' and Papyrus' voice for the majority of the Snowdin arc in Undertale. Really adds something to the game.

I gotta get some sleep so Cheers mates and a happy Thanks giving to my US readers. Everyone else, Happy reading!


	13. Chapter 13 Mama Bear

A/N: Writing this chapter was HARD. I only JUST got inspiration on how to compose it. I actually like what I've done. I think it's clever. Maybe a bit weird but clever.

It's a bit on the short side though but like I said this was really hard to write. I'm surprised I got as much as I did out of me.

* * *

Warm sands. The sound of the ocean. The twang of ukulele strings. Laughter.

Starlight. Solar streams. Deep expanses full of promise. The glow of machines. Laughter.

Steven floated impassively as these sensations, sights and vistas washed over him. Sometimes blending together like two strips of film overlapping, two gramophones playing at once, two bodies feeling the same things. Two minds sorting the pieces as they smashed into one another.

The HTS Steven's brain rocked along the waves as the storm brewed overhead. It was raining roses. The deck was without light. Twinkling points floated above the waves in between waterfalls of sound and sights. Outcroppings of statues made jagged obstacles for the vessel as it's eyes blinked at the confusion before it.

And then it came into sight. The Starship. GTV Rose's Mind broke through the cloud layer, lips set to stun and curls ready.

Sand clouds bellowed beyond HTS Steven's brain as it charged. Waves enveloped it like a sushi as it made breaks in the rose petals of the ocean. All the while GTV Rose's mind sang it's song as it angled itself to crush the smaller craft.

The hulls of both ships came close and then,

A flash. A flash and then the whirring of motors. The picture was done. A polaroid ready to be viewed.

Rose stared as the images danced around her head like a swarm of flies. They would shift and change as if holographic. Some would lie to her and some would tell truths. Her heart oscillated in her chest sending out waves of gravitons. The photos twirled along the waves.

A hand batted at the pesky pictorials, scattering them. Glitter and sequin flew casting stars to life around her. The oceans wailed as they dropped into it like giants at bath. Petals shifted and covered. Still the camera flashed light like Zeus in the clouds.

A Ship overturned. A head of hair singing showtunes. The falls beat to his song. Phantasms of past forms rose from the waters with guitars, rolling film projectors and smoke. Still the petals fell like snow.

Lips did borne song like babes from a womb. Dancing across petals in play the phantoms plied their trade. A spectacle commenced, Tears of babies on DVD. The fog rolled in as the scene changed for a commercial break.

* * *

Clarity. Breath coursed through mouths a many. Eyes flung wide like windows pupils shirking away at photons. FLoor, ceiling, arms, legs, heads, eyes, intestines were seen. Throats groaned and gargled. Fluids leaked freely. A thought rang out in two minds, there was now waste on the ground. Cold and warm on a skin bound topography like the weather man at his fronts.

Gravity. Vertigo. PAIN!

"Determination effects?" Low voice, male. Light dimming. Shadows cast. Clink of metal.

"The human was a Bio Gem, Sir. Human and Gem." Familiar. Enemy? Small.

"Is its soul still intact in this state?" Light returns. Clink of metal. Footsteps. Metal feet. Shoulder fabric.

"Yes. Analysis shows there to be two souls here. A human soul and a A gem soul." Low toned laugh. Fear… TOUCHING?! TOUCH M/eU/s.

"Excellent. Bring the Extraction device at once." Distant feet. Form retreating. Wooden thud. Low laugh. Confusion. CONFUSION

* * *

Insanity. Red waters. Stained Petals. Side collision. HTS Steven's brain pierced the side of GTV Rose's Mind. The falls scream as the sands tint the sky. Cameras document the sight. Photos drift over petals. The storm has halted.

And then the boarding began.

"STOP!" Rang out a voice within the maelstrom. "STOP!"

"Can't you see this is crazy! We're killing ourselves!"

In unison they cried for the other. Voices like a bridge. So the officers met upon that bridge with lips alight with speech. And so the echo's did began to create within the vessel a new voice.

The voice of silence.

* * *

Steven found himself at last. He felt positively strange. It was like the air itself was stifling and the walls were crushing him. All the while he felt incorporeal and detached. Like there was a sense of separation from himself and the moment like he was watching a character in a film performing actions. He was in a black expanse. Starlight lit the way before him in a path made of the glow of nebula and distant suns. He walked along this path.

Along came an archway made of a lattice of wood. Roses had grown up and around this lattice making it a structure of thorns, flowers and wood. The archway's supporting posts stretched down into the abyss as did the vines on which the flowers grew. Steven passed beneath this thoughtlessly. The moment the archway was behind him the expanse was given form.

It was the plain upon which Rose's fountain stood but also it wasn't the fountain as well. While the lush greenery and architecture of the area did resemble the place it was surrounded by the cliffs overlooking Beach City. Where the fountain should be was the magnificent spiraling tower of the Lunar Sea Spire. Statues, broken or whole stood along the grounds and in the tower with moss growing from them. A great many of them were of Rose Quartz. Some were of people that Steven didn't know such as Yellow Diamond, Blue Turquoise, White Howlite. Some were of people immediately familiar such as Greg Universe, Amethyst, Pearl, Steven himself and Garnet as well as Ruby and Sapphire.

As Steven passed by statues they morphed and changed to be someone Steven knew or to be how Steven knew them now.

Steven continued forward unimpeded. Roses were raining down upon the area with small gem shards at their centers where the petals would have folded on themselves. Roses of all colors were growing in bushes all across the grounds alongside the statues. The path he walked on now were a mosaic of stones in the area that gave it an old roman feel that matched the columns and arches found in the Lunar Sea Spire.

The tower was a glow with blue light from the artifacts still active. Art lost to the ages were all over the walls in alcoves and in huge murals that spanned the circular hallway leading skyward. Steven followed the path into the Spire and then up the winding stairs.

The art was strange. It moved and changed. The shapes of them changed from ancient battles or past discoveries to times in Steven's life. A battle that marked Gem Dominance on Earth transfigured to be instead Steven's first song on the Ukulele. The discovery of usable earth for Gem Cultivation exchanged for the discovery of Cookie Cat Cereal. The changes went as Steven progressed.

Soon the stone warped beneath Steven as did the walls and the structure around him. The spire began to shift and transform from stone to wood and plaster. From cold blue to warm yellows and rich browns and bright whites. Glass appeared in the arches the allowed light into the stairs as they shrank to form windows and sills. Glowing fixtures became lamps with shades. Artifacts became TV's, Radio's, Action figures and such.

But the Stairs weren't endless. Steven reached the top of them as the change halted just before the top. It was as if it were scared of the open area. Steve continued his odd trek through the land. The area at the top of the spire was flat. It was a round platform surrounded by a short wall with a pedestal in the center along with another large fixture.

Before him stood an injector machine like those within the kindergarten. It was shaped just like a Bacteriophage Virus from the science textbooks Steven dabbled into when he'd been grounded from TV. Inside the shaft were shirts with stars on them, Cheeseburger backpacks, flip flops, his old drawings, Arcade coins, video games and so much more.

The drill head of the device was embedded deep into the Pedestal. The pedestal itself had little rose statues holding up a large dish that composed the surface of the pedestal. Facing Steven was a small memorial slab that was inclined to allow him to read it.

He approached the slab and looked down at it slowly. Lettering carved in an unknown language stared back at him. The words were some old script lost of the ages but somehow he could make sense of them. He read them slowly and without intonation.

"A mother's love is to grant everything she owns to her young."

The words glowed with a gold light before evaporating into dust that collected into a ball of sunshine. Steven held his hands out and the sunshine seeped into him. Awareness returned to him as he felt his mind recoil. By then the ball was all gone and he was the sun.

The world changed then. The hills rearranged as water rushed in from afar. Sand formed out of nowhere as the sights began to look familiar.

"It's Beach City!" He exclaimed. The familiar streets, the iconic businesses and their signage, the Gem Temple embedded in the cliff beneath the lighthouse and his home in the lap of the statue. The waves on the sand, the roads leading off towards Connie's home. The Gem battlefield and it's giant strawberries and fallen weapons and architecture. The Mountain where Rose's Armory lay.

"Home." He smiled.

The sun passed to noon above the clouds. Steven found himself at the sky arena high above the world. There standing in the middle of the arena's floor was a hologram bubble. It was the sort that Pearl would project from her Gem. Steven wasn't sure why it was there and how it was being projected but he knew it was important.

He alighted from the sun and came to it. The bubble flickered to life upon his approach.

It showed to him visions. There was one where he had been so caught up being an emissary of death that he didn't make it in time and the underground kingdom was razed at the hands of the Crystal Gems. The next vision was of him remembering his dream and re-living it from his recollection. Toriel had tried to help him but he'd killed her with a stray force blast from his shield. He'd been killed shortly after by Underfolk loyal to Asgore.

The next vision showed them lost in the underground. They'd never found the warp pad and so Steven never got to leave on his journey. The Underground kingdom was razed and Toriel is caught up in the defense of the kingdom when the Gems crash into Old Home in their search for Steven. Without Toriel to protect him Gem hate skyrockets and Steven is killed by Underfolk.

The next vision focused on Steven being captured at several points in his journey. All of them ended in Steven's death and Rose's emergence. Each time the loving mother was wracked with grief and a desire to do things over again. Then another vision would start and another and another.

More visions swirled along but each and every one end in him dying and Rose appearing. Steven frowned and wondered deeply. Why? What was causing this?

"Hey numbnuts." Steven turned to find Undyne standing before him. "Happy to see me, shortstack?"

"Undyne?!" Steven paled but Undyne waved him off,

"Relax, we're in your head and your mom's turned over the keys to you. I'm only here because my Alphykin's blasted you full of determination and you had some of my dust on you. Sides your mom promised I could hang as long as I didn't try anything." She explained.

"Oh, That's good." Steven replied as he calmed down. "but could you explain what's going on in this bubble?"

Undyne sauntered over and inspected the bubble. She looked somewhat pleased at what she saw. Almost vindictive. It unnerved Steven but she eventually turned to him.

"Sure, your mom's got determination. Well I guess you do now. Apparently your Gem's your soul and She was dormant in it. Way I figure it, you couldn't get any determination as a human because she was storing it for you! You've been dying a lot. Your mom's probably lived through this journey so many times that she's been giving you advice all throughout your journey."

"Wait, you're serious!?" Steven asked flabbergasted, "Like how or when?"

"How should I know, I'm just the passenger here. You're the head of this state mind. You make sense of it." Undyne gruffly advised and Steven had to admit, it was a solid bit of advice.

"Well I have been feeling like something bad would happen since I got into the underground. Maybe she's giving me vibes and mojo?" Undyne shrugged,

"Sounds good to me. But move it along alright. I don't wanna be on this crazy ride when Asgore cuts you open again and takes your soul. There's a version of that here and it's none too pretty." The fish didn't lie. There was indeed a recording of Steven getting killed by Asgore himself. Rose appears and immediately commences a determination fueled restart.

"Right right, So I think I just need to wake up." Steven explained to Undyne and himself. It was like he knew this stuff already. He chalked it right up to being given the keys to his mind and his mother's soul for good. What did that mean?

Something told him that his mother had relinquished a lot of herself in the process of doing this. Dormant was one thing but sacrificing was another. Steven got the vague grim impression it was a sacrifice of some sort. That made him feel sad but also filled him with determination. He would make good on his mom's sacrifice, one way or another.

"Oh, right, I've been wandering around this place and there's a TV with what's going on outside your head right over there." Undyne pointed.

"Alright Let's go." The duo ran around to where she'd pointed. There was an entire bank of TV's that showed so many things. Most of them parts of the mindscape Steven and Undyne were in. One was of Asgore standing over him… with a trident… primed to kill them. At the bottom of the screen was a little green circle with the letter A on it. The circle was flashing, violently. Fittingly enough there was a gamecube controller sitting in front of the screen. Steven swiped the controller and hammered at the A button.

The TV flashed and the world went white.

* * *

Day 28

word count: 46449 total ( 2413 today)

I like my metaphor. It's cliche and a bit odd but I think it fits. I also like my two twists!

Haha! You thought that I had the stones to kill Undyne all the way! FOOLS! Did you forget that both of the original source materials have ways to resurrect the dead?! I totally got to do ANOTHER twist with Undyne! Nobody gets to die!

So yeah, I'm pretty much all set with what to write for the last 3.5K. The ending's gonna be a piece of cake/pie.

Although if that doesn't get me over the 50K mark. I can just do something else. But man I thought this part would kill me. Totally stumped me good.

I chose to not include Rose here because it didn't serve much thematic purpose. It'd be super simple to just have her pop up and explain everything to Steven... but that's kinda not cool. We don't know much about Rose in the Steven Universe Canon. I'm not about to invent an entire persona for her off the top of my head and risk alienating all the Steven Universe Fans! So I thought it better to do as the show does. Give Rose a huge impact by what she left behind for her son and how her boy interacts with it.

I fubbed up on the "huge impact" part but I tried my best.

Anyways, I need some decent sleep. Hope you folks enjoyed this short segment. See you tomorrow for what should be the conclusion to this story!


	14. Chapter 14 THE END!

A/N: (...)

* * *

"RAAAR!" "AAAAH!" the two screamed. One out of rage and force while the other out of the fear of death. The Trident came down and Steven's small form rolled to the side. There was a mighty clang as the prongs of the weapon found purchase not in flesh but in stone. Steven glanced morbidly at the weapon as it was withdrawn from the floor.

Asgore glared daggers at Steven who rose to his feet. Asgore was a great deal bigger than Toriel. He was at least a head taller than her and his horns seemed to soar up even further! He was rippling with muscles under the armor he wore which looked very greco-roman but that might have been the cape that saw on his shoulders.

LIke with Toriel the Deltarune was exhibited prominently on his person. It was detailed onto his armor in filigree that made it shine when light struck his breastplate. It was even worked into his trident. Where the prongs diverged from the main shaft was a large bulge that bore it in the middle of a floral pattern. Those same prongs twirled in the air before training on him.

"Hold on!" Steven called out, "Can't we talk about this?"

"What is there to talk about?" Asgore replied sternly, "you have been traveling with my wife and have held counsel with Dr. Gaster. You know of our plight and your role in alleviating it. You have had enough words."

And then the Trident's prongs glowed and energy sparked in archs around it. Between the two most extreme prongs and the center formed orbs of energy. The two orbs condensced to form a blade of energy aroudn the center prong that turned the trident into a glaive of pure energy. Steven paled at the sight.

"Where'd you get that?!" Steven gaped. He would've continued speaking but Asgore threw himself at him. For such a large fellow he could really move. The energy glaive hummed as it moved. Steven called out his shield in response.

"I don't want to fight. I just want to talk." Steven tried. Asgore did not halt for a moment. He smashed the butt of his weapon into Steven's shield. The attack proved too much for Steven forcing him back and disrupting his shield entirely. Steven landed on his back with a gasp.

"RAAH!" Asgore roared.

BOOMP! The blade woudl've struck true and into Steven had he not formed his bubble. The developing sphere pushed the moving blade clear of the boy as it was cut by the energy of it. Steven took the chance he'd made to back up and ready himself before Asgore could recover from his attack.

"I know that you're upset and that you want to get even with humans and gems. That's not going to help. It's just going to make things worse for everyone." Steven remarked as he brought his shield back to face Asgore, "Fight and killing isn't the answer."

"And do you know of fighting and killing? Pampered child of a victorious race. Your ideals have not been tested and bested on the fields of battle. You've grown fat and naive off the spoils from my people and others your forebearers subdued." His gaze grew bitter and cold but his claws were not. Flames erupted around him in curtains of silver.

*Hey kid, when Asgore starts slinging fire blast them with your shield. Should snuff them for you.* Steven blinked at Undyne's voice, *relax, I'm just whispering in your ear like your mom did. 'Cept I'm not so subtle*

Flames like that ones Toriel had sent at Undyne came flying at Steven. The boy charged forward with fireballs coming right at him. A few dinged off his shield but then they started becoming far too numerous to simply block. Steven focused deep within himself that feeling of defiance. He wouldn't be beaten even if he was some kid going up against a King with years of training and war experience. He was filled with

DETERMINATION!

Force like a typhoon lashed out from the shield with a howl like the hounds of hell! The flames simply died in flight as Asgore was sent backwards at the assault. Steven gaped. THe ordinarily bright white lines of Rose's shield now surged with sunshine.

*if you start melting, just chill on the determination.* Steven ignored this as he positioned himself to corner Asgore.

"Now will you stop?" Steven asked. He wanted to have a talk with this guy! He didn't want to kill Asgore. He knew deep down that this Underfolk would not and could not be stopped. Steven could hold him at bay but he didn't have anything to kill him with.

*Yeah you do, there's those anti-gem guns over there! Just zap him and he'll die* Steven quelched that train of thought from Undyne. He wasn't a killer! Toriel might want to flay Asgore alive but Steven just wanted to make everything better. Asgore was king. He'd be needed when the Underfolk would be let out into the surface!

*Woah, you're really serious about that?!* Undyne sounded wholy surprised as if the idea never occured to her *Dang.*

"Asgore, Please. We don't have to fight. I'm one of the last few gems on the Earth. We protect the earth from bad gems and live on our own helping the world. We just want to make it up to everyone that got messed up over the Gem war. That includes you. So can't we just stop this and talk about how to help everyone?"

"Oh? And I suppose you can bring my son back to life then? Hah! Save your empty promises and noble ideals. You humans slaughtered out kind and you Gems took advantage of us when we came to you for help. You're murders willing to cut down anyone in your path." He got his legs under him and brandished his trident. Pulling out a gun from his belt he readied himself, "And I won't rest until my kind and my kind alone rules the surface."

"*ASGORE YOU DUMMY!*" came two voices in perfect unison. Steven flinched at the volume and the confusion of who was speaking. All heads turned to the doors.

There standing in the hall was Toriel. She had a buckler on her left arm and a cutlass in her right. SHe'd been fighting for the look of her. She was in the same dress as always but it looked cut and burnt. She looked ready to reduce all of the Underground to cinders.

"This is how you choose to use our son's passing" Toriel snapped, "to make war?! to twist our longest and most cherished traditions?! to become death dealers?!"

"Tori…" Asgore gasped at her,

"YOU DO NOT GET TO CALL ME THAT YOU BASTARD!" And with that her arms whirled and flames danced around her arms.

*STEVEN! STOP HER! bSTOP HER NOW!/b* Steven then saw what was about to happen. Toriel would unleash her burning death ray and that would kill Asgore. He couldn't allow that. He knew that Toriel would immediately react and might destabilize outright from the amount of killing intent she was about to have.

"TORI! NO!" Steven yelled as he focused on that feeling of defiant struggle. That need to rise about circumstance in every way. That ardent desire to change the future at whatever the cost. He let the emotion grow, flourish and run wild in his mind. Sweat formed on his brow as he strained at the task. He was going to need enough force to blow away a literal laser. If not Asgore would fry.

Somehow deep in that moment something strange happened. The energy coursing through his shield and mind surged with something new. Something green.

Things started happening very quickly. Toriel unleashed her death laser and Steven let loose his force blast. The beam flew through the air causing the room itself to sparkle form the released heat. The force blast proved devastatingly large. Anything not solidly nailed down went flying at that instant. And so the beam and blast collided-

-and a whirling hurricane of fire formed in the center of the room. Everything went white from the swirling vortext of silvery death. All three of them were taken aback at the whirlwind of flames. It would've killed them all had it not been for one last unseen attack.

Within the gale was a spiraling line of leaf green light. The line was flowing counter to the flow of the wind. Steven watched and then noted that his shield was pulsing with the same energy. His jaw flopped open as he knew what was going on.

*I AM UNDYNE THE UNDYING! DIE YOU DUMB WIND!* And just like that the burning zephyr died as undyne's defiance at death and the world fizzled back into ambient energy.

And then everything got real quiet as the trio stared at the scene before them. Nobody moved.

"WE ARE COMING TORI! NEVER FEAR FOR PAPYRUS IS HERE!"

"bro, i think we've missed the fight."

Papyrus and Sans burst into the throne room with full battle order in tow. They clanked and puffed in time as they surveyed the still scene around them. "OH… OH."

And as if to follow them up Alphys appeared behind them with a rifle in arm and spit fire in her eyes. She was in a recruits uniform and She was breathing as heavily as the Gaster boys and looking about as confused as to why nobody was dying or fighting. She gawked at Steven's renewed form.

"You're, YOU'RE NOT DEAD?!" Steven waved at her sarcastically,

"Nope," *Tell her I'm here numbnuts! Tell her! Please!* Steven felt something tug at him inside. It felt sad and important. It was the memory of Ruby desperately looking for Sapphire on the Homeworld Vessel. That same dedication to a person as if to be apart was to be without air reverberated in him. Steven couldn't just say no.

"Why I'm gonna-" Alphys trained her sights on Steven. Steven did the only thing sensible and gave Undyne the wheel for a moment.

"Oi! Alphykins, put your toys away! It's time for some Gurren Lagaan or whatever crazy thing you've got planned for us tonight!" Steven was surprised. Even his voice had morphed to match. But it did the trick. Alphys swayed like a leaf in the wind. The surprise catching her completely off guard. When she eventually recovered her face was completely red,

"You promised never to talk about that you Baka- I mean you dummy!" Alphys retorted. She looked around as all eyes were on here. She cringed at the stares and then turned a deeper shade of red at her kerfuffle. She'd just outed herself as a nerd and anime fan to the king, the queen, two of her coworkers and some gem human. What a day to be Alphys.

"Aw come on Alphypoo, we were bound to be found out eventually. But now we can geek out in public without having to hide." Steven grimaced. Undyne, passionate like a burning flame. Alphys was going to die of shame any moment now. He prayed deeply that she didn't because that'd mean Undyne would nag him to Determination blast him with her dust on him to get her in on this head-space gig.

THE HORROR! Two kissy nerds in his head doing adult things in there!

"AAAAaaahh…" And just like that Alphys died… of embarrassment. She slumped to the ground in defeat as the two royals and their soldiers watched. Undyne laughed all the way as she let Steven have control back. Steven immediately felt guilty. He wondered if he'd done more harm than good.

"UNDYNE?!" Papyrus finally got it as he stepped over rubble and other things that had been blown around in the maelstrom of the collision. "Are you inside of Steven?"

*Hah! Yes! Let me have the wheel. This is totally my-* Steven silenced her. He wasn't about to have anymore weird out of body embarrassment runs.

"She's in here." Steven tapped his noggin. Papyrus grinned at him,

"NYEH! NYEH! ARE YOU THERE UNDYNE!" Sans was behind his brother in a moment and yanked him back,

"sorry about that kid, i don't know where he gets off copying a famous webcomic." "FOLLOW THE SOUND OF MY NYEH'S! NYEH! NYeh nyeh…" And thus Sans dragged him off before he Nyehed them all into merciful deafness.

"Is there nobody in my chain of command that you haven't turned to your side?" Asgore asked in exasperation as he watched both his senior officers, his wife and the head of his snowdin ops branch treat Steven as a friend. Before the boy could reply Toriel spoke up,

"Turned, what a terrible thing to say Asgore." She spat that name, "We aren't taking sides. We're talking to a little boy who just wants to go home."

"Tori-el" he caught himself as the queen shot him a look that could kill, "You know what the gems did and why I'm trying to-"

"Not another word." Toriel interrupted, "We've had this discussion before and everytime you talk about this you just use the our son as an excuse to go to war. Asriel was fascinated by Gems. He wanted to meet one and make friends with it. You seem to forget that every time we talked about this."

Steven found this all very cool. Here was a kid from a species full of beastmen, dragons, skeletons and fantasy monster look-a-likes wanting to meet gems and by extension humans. From the looks of things Asriel would've looked like Toriel and Asgore. Steven thought about this and then shook. Asriel would've been huge. At least as big as that homeworld gem named Jasper or like two and half times his height.

But before Steven could contemplate how Asriel would've been further he could hear it. The sound of familiar voices.

"Everyone be quiet. WE don't know what's down here." Came the low calm voice of Garnet,

"Quiet?! We should be calling out to Steven as soon as we get the chance." Came the predictably panicked sounds of Pearls higher tone.

"Relax, Steven's tough. He wouldn't bite it just like that." Came the raspier middle tone of Amethyst.

Steven started to tear up. There's been times of strife and times of insanity and times he'd given up hearing from them again. Yet here they were about to rescue him. Rescue in relative terms given that Steven was about a few yards from freedom and had done most of their work for them.

Asgore heard the gems coming and turned to charge them. Toriel ignited both of her hands and had several balls of flame whizzing around her in a cloud. If that didn't stun the monarch into inaction Torie's death stare would. The larger boss monster froze before lowering his weapon and standing down. Steven grinned, this was good. As long as nobody panics everything would be fine.

"OH MY OH MY GOODNESS! MONSTERS!" Pearl immediately lost her mind the moment she saw Asgore's imposing form and Toriel's smaller but still impressive size. "KILL THEM ALL WITH FIRE!"

"Hey, Don't worry, guys, everything's all good." Steve stepped in to say as the gems were about to pounce on the two royal underfolk. All three of them skidded to a stop in their own way. Garnet simply unwound herself from her crouching position into a standing one. Amethyst pulled her back leg forward to support her as she returned to a standing position.

Pearl sort of slipped and landed on her belly prompting chuckles from Amethyst.

"Oh, OK." Garnet shrugged, "I told you Pearl that he'd be in here."

"Wasn't really interested in fighting today anyway." Amethyst covered up, "Nice to see you Steven. What kinda of crazy adventures did you get yourself into?"

"But guys!" Pearl exclaimed, "There are Monsters. They're dangerous. Before the rebellion the gems and the humans fought these things into submission. They are not the sort of thing we can just declare sa-"

"Mom said they were cool." Steven explained, "She told me in a dream." He half lied. She didn't exactly mention that but she did say she loved the creatures of earth. Underfolk were a native species to some extent. details.

"Oh, she did?... OK then." Pearl still looked at the underfolk with suspicions but Steven was sure that Toriel and her would bond over parenting habits and talking about Steven.

But all was not over.

Over to the side where Toriel's throne stood in the corner was a familiar flower with a smile. He merely watched the gems, human and underfolk come together. It seemed to him that everything would turn out swell in this timeline. His parents would go about their life on the surface supporting the other underfolk moving there.

Most of the military types in the room would probably go about de-militarizing the populus before they actually reached the surface. Undyne might even get herself a new body if Alphys could think of a way to get her an actual soul. He knew that Underfolk needed gem shards as their core. The gems must have a few kicking around somewhere!

He could see humans being fascinated by the underfolk. He still remembered his own fascination with humans and gems. He wagered they'd be like fairy tales to one another. Neither culture's seem the other in the flesh before! Underfolk despite their memories probably don't even remember what humans look like.

Of course he wondered how they'd reconcile. ONe a culture who'd forgotten the underfolk entirely and the other a culture who very vividly remembered being slaughtered by the other. One would think they'd start killing and hurting. Despite that if every human was like Steven or even remotely like him There would probably be few issues.

All the while he merely watched with something of contempt and contentment. He hated that these saps were getting a happy ending. He knew he couldn't very well attempt anything. If he tried Steven and the gems would try to kill him. If they failed, rose quartz would appear.

How he loathed that woman. The time travelling wench who could ensure her son would win in some way. It was such a drag, a bore, a farce. That perfect soldier cheating at time itself to make sure she won. Didn't they know.

"In this world it's kill or be killed. Gems vs. Humans. Humans Vs. underfolk. Underfolk vs. Gems. In time it would all repeat and there'll be another war or two."

And so he turned to stare at…

Wait?! why's he looking at me?! I'm just the narrator. Oh god why is he coming closer her.

"You idiots," The flower hissed, "Don't you know that this is only the rough draft of something greater. I know everything that is to come and there's noone to stop me from making sure that the editted piece is exactly as I desire."

The flower grinned up at me, "Why I even have the Narrator right here. See Everyone wins, including me."

"See you in the revised edition. Now Narrator, end this farce and give the good folks at home an ending."

And… and so… the asssembled party of gems, underfolk and human went forth to the cliff outside Asgore's throne room. There they found themselves gazing at the setting sun. Steven soaked up the fading rays of sun as the underfolk gathered reacted in their individual ways at their first view of the surface from outside the barrier.

The gems attacked the flower… URG… no… no they did not. They smiled to Steven and praised him for a job well done.

The end.

…

SURPRISE MOFO! The narrator chimed.

"This is a fanfic that's being published!" The narrator said, "It's already out there and the author has no plans to revise this copy! Your plans end here. Heck I even get to beat you up because we still have a few hundred words left to write."

"Oh really?" The flower purred as it swiped the six souls from the arsenal left unwatched in Asgore's throne room. "Bet you didn't think the author would allow me to obliterate you. What's to say I can't take over your miserable job and narrate us a sequel."

And so Flowery absorbed the leftover souls. His body bulged and changed. A device like a skull formed out of the aether and the souls made all that morph alongside his organic bits. As the changes happened the Narrator described everything in detail. He's a professional man like that. You can't really fault him, his job is very important to the story and can't be overstated… well it can be like how we're doing it right this second in this segment.

"Ahem!" Flowey growled," I'm waiting for my attack to begin. I'm actually attacking you but… you're not dying."

"I'm the freaking narrator. If I don't say it happens it doesn't happen. I'm a puppet of the author and even if he tell me to say: 'and then flowey guts the narrator.' I don't- URGH…"

"Wow… that was too easy. But… how will I be able to… NO… NO! this isn't happening. I'm my own person. I'm not a puppet or mouthpiece. You can't constrain me. I'm flowey the flower. I've got canon to back me up. I won't bend to you… ARGH!"

…

OH man… That hurt a lot. Thank goodness I get to do crazy stuff like do things off screen. That being said. Do not tangle with flowey unless you're godlike at what you do. Well… you can go ahead and fight him just be careful and mind the bullet hell.

and so I get to end it know. The narrator would like to thank you all on behalf of the author. So long and I hope you enjoyed this fabulous delivery by yours truly, the narrator!

* * *

Day 29

Word Count: 50,032 total(3583 today)

We freaking did it! 50K! We made it! Breakout the snails cause it's party time!

Okay I sort of cheated by having flowey try to off the narrator. I honestly couldn't think of anything to write and I wanted the little guy some screen time. Sort of a break the fourth wall moment.

This is one of my favorite chapters of this story. Mostly because it contains all the main characters and also because I did some cool things in this one.

Undyne can still sling magic out from Steven as long as she's in harmony with his emotions. Defiance is a big one for her. She's a determined gal so I thought that's like determination to not be overcome and to defy the world's order.

Alphys is still shy and not comfortable about being outted as an otaku.

I love Toriel. She puts the death in death stares! Maternal protection death stares.

Asgore... oh we barely knew ye. All this build up and I realized part ways through that I didn't really have anything for this guy. Kind of a bummer really. He was supposed to explain a lot of things but... I'd already done what I wanted with everybody else. I wanted him to taciturn and somewhat gruff. I tried but I don't believe I succeeded well enough.

The gems felt a bit stiff but thankfully F14M3RZ was kind enough to provide dialogue for the gems that I thought was too perfect to pass up. Here's to you man. I fluffed it up a bit to fit my style but I think it's somewhat acceptable?

Anyways, We won! Praise the divines! PRAISE TALOS!

Now to catch up on everything I pushed a side to do this project!


End file.
